Culture Articles

We’re curious people by nature. And we love to teach others what we’ve learned. So explore our blog to gain fresh insights from our expertise in areas ranging from culture to AI.

SEP Selected as a Nominee for TechPoint’s Innovation Mira Award

TechPoint has announced the nominees for its 25th annual Mira Awards, highlighting the most innovative companies, universities, and organizations in Indiana’s tech sector. The awards celebrate achievements across various categories, including the Innovation Partner of the Year. Nominees in this…
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Book Review – Beautiful Teams

I got beautiful teams a few months ago and tore into it hoping for lots of wonderful insights about how to help culture/foster/create functional and beautiful team environments. Instead, I ended up with a collection of stories from some people (some of which I’ve heard of, most of which I haven’t) that have been on […]
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3Q Book Review: The Trusted Advisor

The Trusted Advisor by David H. Maister, Robert Galford, and Charles Green What’s the point? A friend of my boss recommended this book as “the bible of the professional service firm.” I have to admit it’s the first time I thought of my company that way. After reading it, I heartily agree. The book talks […]
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3Q Book Review: The Logic of Failure

The Logic of Failure by Dietrich Dorner What’s the point? The premise of the book is that humans are notoriously bad at thinking through complex systems. We can’t plan or predict well and we don’t manage them well once we’re entangled in them. He presents a number of studies (real life and experiments) to explore […]
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3Q Book Review: Linchpin

I really hate opening a blog post and seeing that it’s five pages long, 7 point font, dense text. Even if the author is awesome, it’s asking me to make a relatively big commitment. I’ll try not to be part of the problem … from now on, I’m going to do any book reviews in […]
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group of hands clinking champagne glasses and holding sparklers

SEP is an ESOP! OMG!

I’ve known about this for a couple months, but it’s still pretty awesome now that it is happening. As of March 31, SEP now has an Employee Stock Ownership Plan. This means that over the next 15+ years, ownership of the company will slowly transition to the employees. We will not buy the stock … […]
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SEP Announced Launch of Employee Stock Ownership Plan

Carmel, IN, April 5, 2010 –Software Engineering Professionals™ (SEP) announced to its employees today that the owners have transferred 100% of SEP’s stock to an Employee Stock Ownership Plan (ESOP) established for the benefit of the employees. Jeff Gilbert, President & CEO, said “This has been a long term goal for me. We searched for […]
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SEP Named a 2010 Best Place to Work

Monday, February 22, 2010 (INDIANAPOLIS) — A total of 70 Hoosier companies from throughout the state are being honored this year as a “Best Place to Work in Indiana” for their strong workplace environment that values employees. The program, now in its fifth edition, is managed by the Indiana Chamber of Commerce. Forty-seven of the […]
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Apprenticeship/Mentorship Success!

One of my apprentices from this past summer just accepted a job… at another company.  I’m totally pumped for him, but most of the people I brag to about it say the same thing with the same reaction: <sigh_of_defeat>Shoot, we didn’t get him.</sigh_of_defeat> As if we failed miserably. For me, the apprenticeship/intern process has the […]
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Emergent Interview Design

I’m heavily involved in recruiting here at SEP. We recently did something that we haven’t done in at least 15 years: hired an experienced project manager. In our history, we’ve always always always grown our own; it’s too critical of a position to put in the hands of a stranger. The risk/criticality hasn’t gone away, […]
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