One of the questions I often get asked when I tell people I work for Rapidparts is, "... and what do they do there at Rapidparts?"  Once I tell them that we sell competitive forklift parts to Cat Lift Truck and Mitsubishi Forklift Truck dealers, they wonder why in the world I work there and why the company would need even one web developer much less a team of nine.

Admittedly, I have occasionally caught myself asking a related question: Why the heck AM I working for a forklift parts company!?  I mean, of all the places on the planet to work, why would I stay at a company who distributes forklift parts?  I'm a developer at heart (though my developers would probably argue with that) and now in charge of a team of them.  Why wouldn't I look for some cool Web 2.0 shop to work in, or go look for employment within a more glamorous industry?  It only takes me a fraction of a second to remember the reason -- I LOVE THIS PLACE!  This place isn't about parts at all -- it's about people.

I love that when I walk in the door every morning, I can just feel a positive energy.  People are happy here, they get along, they laugh, they talk.  I remember when I was a new employee we had an employee opinion survey that we filled out.  I wrote on there that one of the things I loved was that the company felt like a big family all working towards a common goal.  I know that sounds so cliche but it's honestly true and it's definitely still the case today. 

My previous employer was not like this at all.  There was always some fight going on.  Whether it was first shift against third shift or management against employees, it seemed like there was always some sabotage happening.  That gets very old and demotivating quickly.  I like being part of a company that seems to always be moving as one entity in the same direction. 

Aside from that, we have an outstanding benefits package including vision and dental; YMCA membership reimbursement; usually one or two parties a year; birthday cakes on the first Friday of each month; various reward and recognition programs; a stable and capable management team; and a strong focus on the employee as a person.

From a web development standpoint, we get to work on industry-leading applications; we get to hear from our customers and we get to know them; often we're doing things in the industry that haven't been done before; we get to try out new technologies; the company and our customers love using our applications; we all like to work together and come up with creative ideas.  We just really enjoy coming in to work each day.

As you can see it quickly becomes clear why I work here.  Rapidparts is a People company, not a Parts company.  So now when people ask me, "why do you work there?" I just tell them, "...because I'm lucky."