It's at the center of everything we do.
Every time we deliver a website or update for one of our customers, we want it to reach the highest standard of quality. This means that it's both functional and beautiful, and tailored to the specific needs of the client.
Craftsmanship at Page Bird begins with who we hire. We look for people who love what they do (be it design or code) and who want to get better at their craft. Once you're part of the team, everything you do is reviewed by your teammates. We give each other feedback and try to reach the best standard of quality we can to deliver a great product. If you really love web design, working at Page Bird feels like you've found your community - a team with other people who care as much about your craft as you do, and who constantly push you, your skills level, and your belief of what you're capable of. And the beautiful thing about web design is that there's no one right way of doing things. So working alongside other who care about it so much, you start listening to different ideas and perspectives, and this improves your game as well.
Close relationships between designers, coders and clients.
Everyone at Page Bird interacts with customers all the time. They're constantly asking us for updates to their websites, and it's everyone's job to reply to their emails and find a way to give them what they want. It's like every team member is always on customer support. This means we have to be very in tune with customers and know how to improve as a company and as a product. We also end up basing a lot of our decisions on customers' needs and wants.
At other companies, you're often 1-3 levels removed from the customer. At Page Bird, it's a very different experience when you're constantly interacting with the customer - something a lot of designers and coders aren't used to. At first it might be stressful, feeling like "I don't know how to do this" or "I've never done that before". But slowly it transforms into empowerment. You know exactly what you can do to make the product better and your customers happier. You also feel like you're getting a lot of small wins throughout the day. A customer will say, "hey, I need this" and you can give them exactly what they want. And we have awesome customers, so they usually reply with something like, "wow that's amazing, thank you so much!"
Everything that matters at the end of the day is making a product our customers love, and giving them A+ customer service.
Our team members absolutely love it.
A calm environment is at the center of why Page Bird was founded and why it exists today. We really wanted a calm and happy place to work at, but we also knew that unfortunately, that's not usually the norm. So it became really important for us to start a company and create a calm environment we would work in.
In practice, this means we work eight hour days, and no more. Weekends are always off. We keep work loads manageable and rarely is anything urgent. There's only one 30-min call a week, and the rest of the time you get to work asynchronously, choosing when and where suits you best.
This calm environment is what our team members appreciate the most. Many come from VC-backed companies running at 100 miles per hour, focusing on growth growth growth, and they never felt at ease there. Roles always changed, things weren't always clear, and they couldn't be sure what they'd be doing a month from now.
At Page Bird, there's a certainty the company will still be here (we're bootstrapped and profitable) and there's clarity about what their job is (and it isn't going to be changing a month from now). This gives them a sense of calm not only about work, but life in general - they know things will be good.
Weaving it into the team since Day One.
Since the beginning of Page Bird, the goal has always been to create a diverse and inclusive team. We were also aware how it's much easier to get it right from the very beginning. Initially we were two guy friends who got things started, so it was really important for us that the next person to join us be a woman, to start balancing out the team. Today, we're still a small team, but for each future hire it will always be important to add people who make us more diverse and inclusive.
We care about this because it creates an environment and a community where everyone feels accepted no matter who you are or where you come from. We also want everyone's voice to be heard. What's amazing about remote work and companies where most communication is written is that introverts or people who have been marginalized get to voice their opinions. Communicating in writing may be less intimidating than face to face or voice communication, so it can be an important first step to getting your voice heard. And this diversity in ideas and perspectives just helps us grow and improve as a product and a company.
We set the intention to create a diverse and inclusive team from day one because we recognize the superpowers that arise when different perspectives come together and collaborate.
We want to give back to our communities.
We've been so fortunate to be in the place where we are, and get to do the work that we do, that we want to give back to others. Concretely, we've chosen to support initiatives teaching people in Guatemala (where Alejo, Page Bird's founder is from) how to code and how to find remote work. It's a meaningful initiative because if you have technical skills and the ability to work remotely, a much larger world of opportunities opens up for you. So we donate a percentage of our profits to the organizations in Guatemala who are doing this work.
It's nice to be part of a company that gives back this way. Everyone at Page Bird shares the feeling that we're lucky in getting to do the work we do, so we want to pass that luck on to other people. And actively supporting others creates another level of satisfaction in your work. Every time you're interacting with customers or shipping a new website, you know that doing this work is helping fund these other initiatives that will have a great impact on others. It connects us to a meaningful sense of purpose.
You choose how you spend your working hours.
At Page Bird you'll have one 30-min call every week, and the rest of the week - 39.5 working hours - are yours. You get to choose what you spend them on.
We have a continuous stream of inbound requests from our clients, asking us to make changes and updates to their websites, and it's up to team members to decide which requests to tackle first. We also have a set of internal projects that we're working on as a company to improve our product, so team members also need to balance their work between customer requests and internal projects. We basically need to prioritize between the two buckets and within each bucket, and sometimes this can be challenging!
For this work, we hire people who are independent, who can work by themselves, and who make their own decisions about what to work on what's best for the company. At first, having this much independence can be overwhelming. Many people are not used to prioritizing things for themselves (instead of having someone else do that for you). But once they get into a rhythm and figure out how things work, it becomes empowering, and that feeling of empowerment makes for happier employees :)
It was difficult at first, but now I love making my own decisions about what’s most important, and what to work on first.
Be clear and be empathic.
Our internal communication consists of daily check-ins. Everyone works independently, and at the end of day posts an update on what they did. It's really important to be a great communicator here. You want to get the message across as clearly and concisely as possible so as to not waste anyone's time reading a long post, or create confusion about what you actually worked on. Clear and concise check-ins keeps everyone informed and the company running smoothly.
It's also important to be a great communicator when you're interacting directly with clients. A big part of this is being empathic, anticipating needs, and having a positive "yes, and" attitude. For example, if we have to tell a client we can't do what they asked for, we'll immediately present several other options that could work for them. To make this easier, we create communication guidelines and provide email templates for the typical responses that we send.
This is new to most team members - the idea that there's a right way to communicate, and that there are guidelines and templates that you can follow and use. It's a lot more structured and nuanced than what they've experienced before, but it also opens up a door towards thinking about communication as a skill that you can deconstruct, practice, and rapidly get better at.
We're so much more than our work.
There's more to life than work, and unfortunately not all companies act as if that's the case. So when we started Page Bird, we thought carefully about how to create a better company from scratch weave this value into the company's DNA. We think having work/life balance helps us become better humans and create a better world.
In practice, this means a mix of being able to work remotely from wherever you want, having the flexibility to choose your own schedule, and on top of that, a work load that doesn't end up consuming your life. It also means that if you're not feeling well one day and need to rest, or want to take time off for a vacation, you can go ahead and do that. This allows team members to compete in trail running races in Europe, travel around Mexico in a van, or whatever it is they want to do.
We also really care about and encourage everyone on the team to have hobbies outside of work, and talk about them on our weekly calls. It's really nice to know what everyone's up to besides work, and get to know each other a bit more. For most, this work/life balance is something they haven't experienced in jobs before, and it's the type of thing where once you experience it, you can never go back.
A small, but completely distributed and asynchronous team
We care most about culture fit, and value skills over credentials.
Apply for an open position! Remember to send us your CV, cover letter, and portfolio,
If your application matches the role, we'll schedule a virtual chat with someone on the team.
You'll then have an opportunity to showcase your skills through a paid test project.
If all goes well, you'll receive an official job offer to join the Page Bird team!
