Wolverine Trading Career Growth & Development

How does your team cultivate a culture of learning, whether that’s through hackathons, lunch and learns, access to online courses or other resources?

Our team’s culture of learning is deeply embedded in our philosophy of growth. Our core belief is that context gives form to intangible information. The best way to learn is to do. This belief defines our structures.

Learning is best done through meaningful work. Rather than isolate education, such as workshops, we embed learning within the work. Each day is an opportunity to expand our reach, technically, organizationally or philosophically. Everyone has some intrinsic interest that motivates them to explore beyond the task. An employee’s interest is a well of initiative to be tapped. Our strategy is to identify those interests and align them with areas of meaningful ownership.

Shared information allows collaboration. Teaching reinforces personal understanding and elevates others. Developers acquire ownership for more than operational efficiency. Ownership creates passion. Teaching provides an outlet to express that passion and foster passion in others. We prefer human documentation. We encourage employees to share domains. We build redundancy in knowledge. Shared ownership allows many people to collectively represent knowledge rather than simply execute as individuals.

How does this culture positively impact the work your team produces?

Interest-driven ownership pays off in several ways. It allows people natural initiative because they work on things they care about. It results in faster and stickier learning since there is an emotional investment. And it creates long-term retention of employees and their knowledge because they experience satisfaction through the excellence of their domains. 

Software engineers create tools to remotely diagnose issues, bridging the gap between developer and user. Those passionate about mathematics analyze graph layout algorithms to create the perfect look. Those interested in hardware optimize machine configurations for software. Others bring languages, protocols and technologies to architect workflow pipelines and efficient practices. Each project brought by a developer is pushed forward as an expression of passion.

Ultimately, our teams believe in building individuals who own, who grow and who propagate their knowledge to anyone willing — or doomed — to listen. We kindle a culture of owners who understand, create and share. Our employees become the living embodiment of knowledge. Learning is more than personal self-improvement; it’s the foundation of our architecture.

What advice would you give to other engineers or engineering leaders interested in creating a culture of learning on their own team?

Most important is to recognize that a team reflects its company. Culture grows from the architecture of the larger organization. Every company contains the potential for learning. Encourage knowledge-sharing. This doesn’t require formal presentations. Make space for organic conversations. Normalize the idea that everyone has something to teach and learn, regardless of experience. Teach constructive conversation and nurture it by example. Employees need to feel safe asking questions, challenging assumptions or stating what they don’t know. This safety is the bedrock of learning. Without it, people become risk-averse, which sounds a death knell for innovation. 

Present the bigger picture. Employees are motivated to care when they understand why something matters. It creates satisfaction to see their contribution to the business. Take time to show the forest as well as the trees. Context leads to insight, and insight leads to innovation. Create people who yearn for knowledge so they can build and share. When you do that, learning stops being a task and instead becomes part of life. A culture of learning can create unconstrained opportunities for individual growth and for the company.