[bennathanson]

YMMV but I think it all boils down to incentives, institutional maturity, and leadership. Here's what I look for:

1) What industry it is. A banking or security company typically has strong incentives toward building secure, stable systems.

2) Maturity. Experienced organizations may still have the impulse to hack things together, but at least have had a chance to internalize the value of security, testing, and realistic ship dates, and to hire sufficient staff to actually look after those things.

3) Who leads the organization. Nontechnical cofounders can be indispensable in their own way, but technical cofounders are more well equipped to appreciate why good software takes time and should be built robustly and securely, and balance other voices in the organization that may not have the benefit of that same background.

Business risk can come from a failure to innovate in some situations and a failure to provide stability in others. I've been at both extremes of this. It sounds like you're at one now. I prefer to be somewhere in the middle - pushing myself, learning, but not burning out.

Fortunately my current company fits this criteria. Anecdotally:

1) Tests are included in the scope of tickets

2) We have institutional memory of what happens when you build too quickly

3) Leadership is rich with experience in security and engineering

Good luck in your search!

[bckr]

> Leadership is rich with experience in security and engineering

I think this is so important.

Thank you