Culture
According to most former employees, Convex was a very fun place at which to work. For some time, there were beer parties every Friday, and an annual Convex Beach Party (where a truck load of sand would be dumped on the parking lot to simulate a beach in Richardson, Texas). There was a fitness center and other recreational facilities on-site.
Bob Paluck strived to maintain an atmosphere that promoted dedication and hard work, but also emphasized fun and creativity.
Convex had an unusually thorough interview process, which, for technical positions, included a grilling by a group of engineers. This was intended to ensure that only the best got to work there. The extensive interview process carried over to other departments as well, where the key people who would be working with the prospective employee each interviewed the candidate, then met in roundtable to discuss whether or not to hire.
This resulted in a very dedicated relatively young employee base who spent most of their waking hours ensuring Convex's success.
The culture was one of creativity. Especially in the first few years, new hires were brought in and given much creative license. New ideas were encouraged and the management generally succeeded in generating an atmosphere where employees considered themselves a vital part of the team.
Banners hung throughout the building, extolling such slogans as "What have you done for the customer today?"
Convex lasted longer than most minisupercomputer companies, and to celebrate this and more so to remind themselves of the difficulties of the market, Convex had a graveyard of former competitor companies on its property.
Ex-employees of Convex jokingly refer to themselves as ex-cons. There is a mailing list of Convex ex-employees, as well as frequent reunions.
Read more about this topic: Convex Computer
Famous quotes containing the word culture:
“If mass communications blend together harmoniously, and often unnoticeably, art, politics, religion, and philosophy with commercials, they bring these realms of culture to their common denominator—the commodity form. The music of the soul is also the music of salesmanship. Exchange value, not truth value, counts.”
—Herbert Marcuse (1898–1979)
“The problem of culture is seldom grasped correctly. The goal of a culture is not the greatest possible happiness of a people, nor is it the unhindered development of all their talents; instead, culture shows itself in the correct proportion of these developments. Its aim points beyond earthly happiness: the production of great works is the aim of culture.”
—Friedrich Nietzsche (1844–1900)
“To be a Negro is to participate in a culture of poverty and fear that goes far deeper than any law for or against discrimination.... After the racist statutes are all struck down, after legal equality has been achieved in the schools and in the courts, there remains the profound institutionalized and abiding wrong that white America has worked on the Negro for so long.”
—Michael Harrington (1928–1989)