Find your spark bird
A coworker asked me over coffee today how I got so lucky. Before Fleet, I’d joined two other startups early - Jamf and Fastly - both of which grew explosively. Three times in a row seemed like quite a streak.
Will Fleet be the third? We were just speculating. The company hasn’t had explosive growth yet. But that’s kind of the point.
I thought about it for a moment. On a recent episode of the MacAdmins Podcast, I mentioned that I wasn’t really looking for a role as much as I was looking for the right company. But looking at things now, what I was really looking for was the right people.
The story’s different each time, but there’s a core theme: I didn’t want to work for those companies specifically. I wanted to work with specific people there who were really smart and passionate about what they did.
In birding, there’s a concept called a spark bird - the bird that sparked your interest in birding and turned you into a birder. This American Life did a great episode about spark birds that captures this perfectly. Each of these companies had a spark bird for me; a person who made me want to be where they were.
Jamf: Mikey
The MSP I worked for had just bought Jamf to manage customer Macs. They sent me to Minnesota to get certified. Mikey taught that class.
I was in awe. He was an expert who clearly loved what he did, and he had this way of making complex topics feel approachable. In casual conversation between sessions, I found out he was also a huge music nerd like me. We bonded over obscure bands and concert stories. I still listen to so many bands I never would’ve found without Mikey.
I left that training class knowing I wanted to work with him, which meant working for Jamf. The more Jamf people I met, the more I realized they were all like that - smart, passionate, and genuinely invested in what they were building. Less than a year later, I got a job at Jamf working in professional services. I never got to work with Mikey directly, but he’ll always be my Jamf spark bird.
Fastly: Jon
I interviewed with Fastly in May 2015 and turned them down for The Linde Group. I thought consulting would be more interesting - working on a bunch of different companies’ problems instead of just one. I was chasing excitement and glory.
That’s not to say there weren’t smart, passionate people at Linde Group. There were plenty. But that’s not why I was there.
Six months later, I spent a week on an engagement at Fastly working alongside Jon. I realized pretty quickly I’d made a mistake. Jon was really smart and really passionate about his work. More than that, I liked working with him. The collaboration felt effortless in that way it does when you’re aligned with someone who just gets it.
Before the week was even over, I asked if that role from six months ago was still open. Two weeks later, I started at Fastly.
I got to work side by side with Jon for a while. Then he became my boss. Then one day he left, and I did my best to follow in his footsteps.
Fleet: Zay
I first met Zay when Fastly became a customer of Fleet. That feeling came back - finding someone really smart and passionate about what they do, and wanting to work with them. The more people at Fleet I met, the stronger it got. But Zay was first. She was my spark bird.
We kept in touch after I left Fastly and explored the idea of me working at Fleet a few different times. She actually talked me out of it once because I was exploring a role that I ultimately would have hated. That’s the kind of person she is, more interested in the right fit than just filling a seat.
Eventually, the timing was right. Now I’m here, surrounded every day by smart people who are passionate about what they do.
Around the same time I was deciding, a FAANG company offered me more than twice what Fleet did. More than twice. I’d be lying if I said I didn’t think hard about it. That kind of money would’ve been life-changing.
But the interview process felt hollow. I kept waiting to meet someone who made me feel that spark, that sense of “I want to work with this person.” It never came. The compensation package was incredible. The title would be very impressive on my resume. The work seemed fine. The people seemed competent. But I didn’t feel anything.
I turned them down and took the Fleet offer. Did I make the right choice? Only time will tell.
The pattern
Every time I’ve found smart, passionate people and convinced them to let me join them, it’s paid off for me. Some people chase money, some chase a higher spot on the org chart. If that’s what fuels you, by all means chase it.
For me, chasing money has always left me feeling hollow. It doesn’t fuel me. Don’t get me wrong, money matters. It’s a means to survive in the capitalist hellscape we’re all forced into. I need it just like everyone else. But when I’ve made career decisions based primarily on compensation, I’ve ended up miserable. The money didn’t make up for the lack of passion, the lack of connection to the work and the people.
Chasing passion works for me. Because the thing about smart, passionate people is that they tend to gravitate toward other smart, passionate people. If you’re surrounded by them, you end up building something that matters. And in my experience, when you’re part of building something that matters, the money tends to follow anyway.
That’s my career advice: find people who are passionate about what they do and passionate about the same things you are. Then go where they are. It might not be the safe choice. It might not be the lucrative choice. But it will probably be the right choice.