In the last three years I’ve worked for three very different companies. This year the tech industry is laying off thousands. I’ve been thinking a lot about jobs. In rougher times it feels risky to ask a lot from your job, but we should. Especially now. So here’s an unordered, incomplete list of things I want from a job.

• Work that benefits from my specific skills and ideas.
• Work that benefits the people who receive it.
• A salary that enables me to live a comfortable life, to be generous, and to save for retirement.
• The ability to work from the sunny spot of my couch with my dog.
• The ability to take a nap, run errands, or go to the cinema during the workday if I need/want to.
• The flexibility to work in the way I work best and with the tools I choose.
• A team small enough to know everyone personally.
• A team that has fun.
• A team that ships work often.
• The autonomy to make small and big decisions about my work.
• The ability and opportunity to share my work publicly.
• Strategic leadership whose financial decisions I trust.
• Courageous leadership who does the right thing.
• Empathetic leadership who treats people well, even (especially) when it costs the business.
• Good health insurance.
• No implied requirement that I have Opinions™ about specific web technologies or companies.
• Very few meetings, used effectively.
• Encouragement.
• Generosity.
• Perks that enable me to do more with my time.
• The space to be a vulnerable, flawed human.
• Work that requires creativity.
• Work that offers variety.
• Work that makes me come alive.