Once again, The Nerdery is a top Workplace in the Minnesota

Yesterday, the StarTribune published its list of 100 Top Workplaces in Minnesota, and The Nerdery ranked #4 on the list for mid-sized companies. Additionally, they singled us out for going above and beyond, by providing nerds with tons of opportunities and the ability to create their dream job within the company.

At the awards ceremony, Mark Seemann accepted the award on our behalf and gave a small speech about working at The Nerdery:

You can read his remarks below:

“I am a programmer. If that’s all I did, this will be a boring speech. Well it might be anyway. As a programmer, I make stuff for the web and mobile devices. I love to solve problems. I love puzzles and games. I’m an introvert, fighting the urge to run and hide from all these p-people. I’m smart and talented. I love my job at The Nerdery.

So far, everything I’ve said could just as well be spoken by a dozen other people at the Nerdery. [Aside:] Why just a dozen? Well, we are Nerds – we’re not good at public speaking.

But we are good at our jobs. We’re reminded constantly that we are the best and brightest. We are the rockstars. The ones clients turn to for cutting-edge technology solutions that no one else has even thought of before. But that’s not all.

As Nerds, we are also encouraged to transcend our role, to have the strength to get up and do what needs to be done as Garrison Keillor puts it. Or as we call it, being a Co-President. This was a title given to us in one of the last all-staff emails by the late Luke Bucklin, who will always be remembered as the President of the Nerdery. From that same email, he said: “You are bigger than your defined role, and you are much more than your job title.”

Some examples: I helped popularize chess games over lunch every day. I’m the founder of the semi-annual Pentathanerd Games, five competitions held over lunch at work to test our nerdy skills. I’m a co-founder of the company newsletter, The Werd (spelled like Nerd but with a W). It provides transparency on what’s happening in The Nerdery, from the Executive Committee all the way down through events to the clubs. We have a bunch of clubs for people with an interest in game development or knitting.

But there are other examples. Like, another developer that saw a need and started up the User Experience department. After a year, it now employs more than a dozen people. Our Office Manager was our first receptionist. The vice president of Marketing was originally hired as a graphic designer. The VP of Development was hired as a web developer, just like me.

Since it’s our Co-president nature just as much as our Nerd-given abilities that earned us this recognition, I’m here, in place of Mike Derheim, the CEO of The Nerdery, to let you know why.

Because I’m just a programmer, but I’m more than a programmer.

I am a co-president.

Thank you.”