Fast-growing software company ScienceLogic is prepping for a massive hiring spree in 2021.
The Reston company ended 2020 with a little over 400 people and plans to hire about 150 more over the coming year, CEO Dave Link told the Washington Business Journal, boosting headcount by roughly 40% in the coming months.
The hiring effort follows a great 2020 for ScienceLogic, including being named an AIOps (artificial intelligence operations) leaders by research firm Forrester in its Forrester Wave guide as well as one of the best companies for remote jobs by Glassdoor. It was also one of the many tech companies that saw a boost in sales as workers shifted to remote locations and online systems and applications became even more important, Link said.
“This market is really blowing up. So this investment in people is our sincere attempt to expand on the leadership position we have,” Link said, adding that the pandemic has highlighted the importance of monitoring systems even when no one is physically present at work. "IT has been under immense pressure to deliver really a standard now that it always has to work — there can never be a problem.”
Link said major system outages, even if they are only for a few minutes, are now front-page news. And that has propelled companies to upgrade old systems, benefiting the $16 billion AIOps market.
In a nutshell, ScienceLogic's products allow customers to monitor the applications and systems across their networks and how they interact, helping to predict outages and issues and even to provide fixes in a more automated way.
Now the company is looking at more than $100 million in revenue in 2021, although Link declined to disclose specific revenue information. The company has also opened offices in seven different countries, with Taiwan being the most recent, and has seen growth in Europe and Asia, Link said.
The pandemic has changed how ScienceLogic operates, as the company has itself gone remote with about a third of its recent hires not located in the D.C. area. While Link believes the office environment and its chances for more serendipitous collaboration will return, he also said collaborative remote work has pushed the company to thrive.
“What I am amazed about is how well the company has gone in being remote,” Link said, adding he has even made executive hires without meeting them in person, while sales has shifted away from trade shows and customer demos away from in-office. “I think some of those barriers are being withered away as we are learning how to work in a remote fashion during the pandemic.”
Now the company prioritizes talent over geography, allowing it to find the best people whether they are in Texas or California, Link said. And the company will be hiring across departments, and in deeply technical areas, such as AI, machine learning and design.
"I think it’s given us confidence that we can have a geographically distributed workforce that is really productive and super communicative and collaborative,” Link said. “I want people to know there are jobs here. And if you are looking for a job we are looking to fill those jobs.“
