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This band is my dream
I have read the manifesto and I am excited to be part of the band, and I will try to share my emotions as authentically as possible when I first read it all.
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Welcome
This is your soundcheck. It's here to help you understand if Spotify is the place for you. Answer the reflective questions as you read through our band manifesto. If everything sounds good and we’re a match, hit apply.
Here at Spotify, we like to think
of ourselves as a band
Ok, sure, we don’t look a lot like that group
you put together in high school that could
only play one Led Zeppelin song, but we still
think the comparison fits.
Like a band, we’re dependent on each other to create
the best audio experience. Like a band, we need to be in
sync. And like any successful band, we have a set of
rules, a band manifesto, that keeps us focused on where
we want to go and guides how we get there.
This is that manifesto. It explains our mission, our beliefs,
our culture, our values, and everything else in between.
Pretty much the only thing it won’t teach you is how to
play a new Led Zeppelin song – that’s just something
you’re going to have to learn on your own.
Our mission
Spotify is a purpose-driven company, using our strong
values and beliefs to guide us in our strategies as well
as our everyday decisions. Our mission is simple:
To unlock the potential of human creativity
by giving a million creators the opportunity
to live off their art and billions of fans the
opportunity to enjoy and be inspired by it.
How do we get there?
By believing in our talented band members, giving them
the support and autonomy they need to create. (And lots
of cold brew.) If you join the band, there are five values
with which you’ll quickly become familiar as they form
the foundation of Spotify culture. If these values align
with your own, if they sound like the kind of people you
want to be surrounded by, then come and help us shape
the future of Spotify.
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Our mission
It’s easy to get blinded by the lights. The music, the podcasts, the artists and the product. The idea of a glamorous life in music. But are you joining because you love the job and the journey we’re on as a company?
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Answer
I was already familiar with the mission statement of Spotify in 2019 or something. And yes this company actually turned out what I thought it would be. Also, Product design is something I love and for the past months doing Spotify small projects for job applications was really fulfilling for me. and I am ready for different challenges.
Our values
Our values are informed and influenced by every
member of the Spotify band.
For us, these are more than just words on a page —
these principles guide each decision we make, serving
as the path we’ll follow to achieve our goals and mission.
These values help us build trust with our users, creators,
advertisers, partners, and even amongst ourselves. They
ensure that we are the same company that stands for the
same things no matter our audience.
05
Playful
We don’t take
ourselves too
seriously
01
Innovative
We move fast and
take big risks
02
Sincere
We have no time for
internal politics
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Our values
What do you value in life and work? And what environment do you thrive in? If your values are in sync with ours, you're in for an exciting and meaningful adventure. If you can add to our culture and help improve it, even better!
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Answer
Well, that's the best part I came across while getting on this journey and I go along with company values and the kind of environment people here seek.
Right now I only know little about the company and its culture but being someone who practices Creative productivity I see myself putting ideas to the table to improve the wellbeing and productivity of the company.
Making some noise
We’ve made it our business to make some noise.
We’re not content to sit idly by and wait for
others the forge new paths - we want to learn
faster than the world around us is changing. In
short, change is our constant. We’re dedicated to
relentless innovation, ensuring our technology
stays relevant, easy to use, and easy to scale.
The Spotify rhythm
We believe that speed of iteration beats quality
of iteration, which is why we’re not big on
bureaucracy. To us, complicated processes and
guidelines can kill innovation. We’d rather just
stay focused and prioritize ruthlessly.
And in the spirit of transparency, we’ll admit that
being process-light sometimes invites a little bit
of chaos into our everyday. We embrace it. A
little bit of chaos forces you to think in new ways,
break out of your old patterns. It keeps us fast,
focused, and inventive.
Working fast means acting with consent, not
consensus. Even if the majority can’t come to an
agreement, it’s important to keep moving, take a
chance, and execute.
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The Spotify rhythm
We’re process-light so we can move fast. There’ll be unclarity at times and ambiguity is common. Consider how you handle change. Do you thrive in times of uncertainty, or do you prefer things to be more predictable?
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Answer
My life has been really uncertain since I dropped out of the former education system to learn on my own, and all I have seen are improvements in my life. I explore processes dig deep into why they exist and use them to my advantage. Although I prefer uncertain I think I can produce good work through processes.
As long as we’re always making grounded
and informed decisions, we shouldn’t be
afraid to make a bet. Because here, getting
ideas out into the world take precedence.
Dream big, act fast
We believe in maintaining that relentlessly
resourceful start-up spirit. Complacency is our
enemy – we take smart risks and set the bar high
as we continually think, build, ship and tweak.
We strive to stay receptive and flexible, adapting
and acting on what we observe. We work hard to
find the best way to get things done, even if it’s
not the most obvious way. And then we do it
again and again.
The beat goes on
When we win, we celebrate the success
together. When we fail, we celebrate the new
valuable information that we learned.
Failure is an important part of our process. It’s the
best indication that we’re trying something new,
that we’re reaching for what’s next. And an
undesirable outcome doesn’t mean that the
wrong decision was made – it means we took an
informed risk, as you must when pursuing
innovation. If it worked, we would’ve won big. If
it didn’t, that’s ok. We move on, keep trying, and
give each other the freedom to fail again. We
don’t fear mistakes but we refuse to repeat them.
This extraordinary rhythm requires extraordinary
people. We seek those who have the creativity to
discover, the accountability to deliver, and the
courage to embrace complexity as well as
polarity. Being part of the Spotify band means
staying passionate, nurturing your curiosity, and
welcoming (and oftentimes even driving) change.
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Dream big, act fast
Spotify is built by entrepreneurs, and we still have a resourceful spirit and get-it-done attitude. Would you be happy discussing big picture thinking, and then rolling up your sleeves to execute on the details?
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Answer
I have been entrepreneurial from the start. Although I haven't executed much publicly to show, I got exposed to various stuff and learned a lot.
Joining the band
Ideas drive us, not bureaucracy. Typical corporate
career paths with ladders, hierarchies, and
bureaucracy? That just isn’t our way.
We don’t believe in up or out. We don’t believe in rest
and vest. We want to give you the opportunity to grow
with us. Neither your career nor Spotify is a sprint –
they’re both marathons.
The best people in their field may not be the best people
for our band. We put an emphasis on finding the right
people every time, rather than just recruiting the rock
stars. In our hiring process, we look for three essential
factors: adaptability, ability, and drive. We’ve discovered
that great performances come from the right people, all
working collaboratively toward a shared goal. As a team,
we are our mission.
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The beat goes on
Being comfortable with admitting, analyzing, and learning from failures is key when working with us. What did you learn from the last time you failed at something and how did you bounce back for the better?
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Answer
I was in tutorial hell and learning loop. I love learning new stuff and honestly, I was taking action but failed to bring results overall and to focus on the right thing at the right time, and a lot of distractions in career options. to overcome this at the start of this year, I decided to focus on one goal (Spotify design) by writing about my potential career path. and made a decision to chase one goal which I love.
Who you are
Our band is dependent on all of its members to
give and get the full experience. We rely on you
to help bring our values to life in real time, to
discuss them openly with your team and work
together to integrate them into your process.
If you join Spotify, we expect you to care - about
your work, about Spotify, about the success of
the entire band. You should take ownership for
the work you do and take pride in what you
deliver, both individually and as a team.
If you join Spotify, we expect you to grow.
Growth is our mantra, both for Spotify and for
our people. The two go hand in hand. You should
be self-driven, ready to take control of your own
development and reach your full potential. We
can’t guarantee that you’ll get a promotion and a
new title every six months but we can help you
design your future. So you should be ready to
expand your skills and learn new ones. You
should want to make conscious and deliberate
decisions about what your journey will be.
If you join Spotify, we expect you to nurture
collaboration and just, well, be nice. Remember:
listening is everything. In our band, there’s no
room for entitled egos.
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Who you are
Growth here lies in the opportunity to develop and learn, not necessarily in a new job title. We don’t care much for hierarchies and traditional career ladders. If these are important to you, then this isn’t your place.
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Answer
I hate the idea of climbing the corporate ladder. and those things aren't important to me I believe in learning and developing new skills.
In this section, “We look for three essential adaptability, ability, and drive.” I feel confident that I can adapt to changes, I also possess the ‘ability’ to design great usable products, And my passion will be ‘drive’ for that.
Playing in sync
So – no egos. Got that. But what else goes into
“being nice”? Well, we treat all of our colleagues,
users, creators, and partners with respect. We
assume good intent and work hard to achieve
mutual understanding. We recognize that we all
bring our own unique perspectives to the table
and that with those perspectives may come
some unconscious biases. So while we have the
confidence to voice our opinions, we also have
the humility to listen and learn from others.
Here at Spotify, we’re dedicated to fostering a
workplace free from discrimination and a culture
built on the principle of inclusion. We strongly
believe that a diversity of experience,
perspectives, and backgrounds will lead to a
better environment for our employees and a
better product for our users and creators. Think
about it – without a diversity of instruments, a
band’s output would be pretty boring. (There’s a
reason why your favorite band isn’t just five tubas
playing at once.) Music is global and so Spotify
should be too.
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Playing in sync
We believe everyone plays a critical part in the band. Our band members are self-driven but equally invested in the entire teams’ health and success. Do you appreciate and understand that everyone is equally important?
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Answer
I like how it's mentioned Health and success in the question cause basically those two are interconnected. I have people around me who worked from home and I hated how they were wasting time in company politics and I don't want to waste time on such stuff. In the last 3 years, I have gotten rid of the ego in life and I think I can manage the same after joining Spotify
We believe in an inclusive culture where
everyone feels empowered to do their best
work, where everyone feels like they
belong.
A culture where innovative, passionate, and
playful people can grow, have fun, and do their
best work. A culture that develops and deepens
with every new team member but always stays
true to our core values.
Leading the band
The foremost thing we look for in our managers
is the willingness and courage to lead. Leaders at
Spotify need to be brave as well as resilient and
adaptable. They need to build healthy teams,
work from a sustainable mindset, and – most
importantly - hold themselves accountable.
When you lead with purpose, engagement and
drive follow.
But we don’t hire highly competent people to
have them micro-managed. We use constant
planning and one-on-ones to open
communication channels rather than admin-
heavy, time consuming, template-driven
appraisal talks. We believe that it isn’t our
responsibility to manage talent – we’re here to
develop talent.
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Leading the band
As a leader, do you have the courage to lead your team with empathy and sincerity, even when you don’t always have the answers? At Spotify, leaders are comfortable inspiring and empowering their teams to get things done.
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Answer
I am a junior and still nowhere to becoming a leader in product design but I am willing to explore that space
Hopefully!!
"We have no patience
for entitled egos"
Daniel Ek, CEO
Our encore
01
Values
are innovative,
sincere, passionate,
collaborative and
playful.
02
Culture
is informed and
influenced by every
member of the
Spotify Band.
03
Change
is our constant.
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Growth
is our mantra.
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Audio is global
and Spotify should
be too.
"Welcome to
controlled chaos."
Katarina Berg, Chief HR Officer
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Answer
I feel even more excited to join the Band and after reading so much about the stuff Spotify design and other teams have put on the internet just validated my decision to be on this journey.
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Wrap up
Now you’ve gotten to know us a little better, do you still want to join the band? Maybe we’re not right for you right now – that’s OK. But if your values and ambition align with ours, then search available roles and hit apply!
