Company Culture
Do you want to work for a successful and growing organization that puts customers first? Then Descartes is the right place for you. We make decisions quickly, and value the input from our employees. We are focused on the future, on growing our organization and making the world a better place through logistics.
At Descartes we promote a work hard, play hard attitude. At the heart of our culture is an “open door" policy, where we encourage our people to express and exchange their ideas with all employees at all levels of the organization - including the senior management team. Through a fostered trust in one another’s skills and abilities, our employees work together to reach company goals and objectives.
Business and Company Values
Descartes employees unite around its common purposes and its strategies to ensure that our company continues to grow. Our business executes as a T.E.A.M., as O.N.E. T.E.A.M., to guarantee our success and therefore our shareholders and customers prosperity.
Descartes employees’ work as O.N.E around the world, between departments and different levels in the organization. Whether it is developing solutions, providing services, hiring new employees, selling or creating strategies, we are interconnected, interdependent and drive each others success.
One Networked Enterprise
Descartes Employees’ Actions are Driven By these Core Values:
- Transparency: open, honest and constructive in the work we do and the way we work with others
- Entrepreneurial Spirit: go beyond the extra mile and do whatever it takes to makes things happen and succeed
- Accountability: believe in and stand behind your actions and results; take responsibility for your actions
- Metrics focused on results: set measurable objectives and set out a plan to achieve these objectives Back to top
We L.E.A.R.N.
We work with each other, our customers and our partners to be a learning organization:
- Listen
- Educate
- Articulate
- Research
- Network
O.N.E. L.E.A.R.Ning T.E.A.M.
At Descartes, you can work with people from a wide range of cultural, educational and geographic backgrounds, people who are able to challenge conventional thought, offer unique perspectives and generate innovative ideas. Descartes is a dynamic, team-driven place to work, where solving business problems for customers is our top priority. Back to top
A Day in the Life
Meet our employees who have been recognized for going ‘Above and Beyond’ the call of duty. Their personal stories will help you get a more complete view of life at Descartes. As they describe their experiences, we hope you gain a better understanding of our culture and the interesting opportunities that Descartes has to offer."
John Peng
Sr. Software Engineer – Atlanta, Georgia
John joined Descartes over 3 years ago. In his role as a Sr. Software Engineer, he is responsible for developing our Fleetwise Product and his main duties include implementing new features and maintaining existing applications. He also enjoys researching new technologies to enhance our existing software.
Since joining the team, John has become a dedicated resource and has helped to grow the customer base and increase revenue. He has helped to increase the speed of our Fleetwise system and ease of use of the interface, much to the delight of our customers.
When John joined Descartes, he did so because of the opportunity to utilize his programming skills and gain new ones, especially in the area of front-end UI and web server side technology. However, the fast and ever changing pace keeps him coming back. There is always something new and interesting to work on whether it be implementing new features, enhancing existing functionalities or fixing bugs. Back to Top
Songgan (Scott) Shen
Software Engineer – Suzhou, China
Scott joined us just over one year ago as a Software Engineer, Fleetwise. In the relatively short time that he has been here, Scott has mastered all of our DCF/UIF architectures and has become a key player in ensuring our customer requirements are met. He takes the Descartes core values of ONE LEARNing TEAM to heart and it shows in his work and contributions to the Company.
As a member of the Fleetwise team, he has been a great help in ensuring that the speed and ease of use of the system has been greatly increased for our customers. He has also been instrumental in helping to resolve an errors or bugs that may have occurred.
The decision for Scott to join Descartes was an easy one because of the friendly environment and great colleges. In fact, it is what keeps him coming back each day! In addition, Scott really enjoys the challenges of his day to day work. Development is what he loves and it shows in how happy our customers are with our product and the level of service that has been provided. Back to Top
Stephanie Peach
Contract Administration Manager – Waterloo, ON, Canada
Our Contract Administration Manager, Stephanie has been with Descartes for seven years. Amongst her colleagues, she has proven herself to be the ‘go-to’ person for information relating to customer contracts and legal administration. She is responsible for preparing agreements and documentation relating to the sale of our products and the Global Logistics Network (GLN) services as well as supporting personnel regarding various legal or customer related matters.
Since joining Descartes, Stephanie has had many successes including helping to organize a system to maintain files on legal and contract matters. This system is still in practice today, as it helps the Company to stay organized, track information and integrate files.
Stephanie joined Descartes because of the challenges and the environment. In the technology field, things are always changing and there is always an opportunity to learn and grow. Stephanie continues to come to Descartes because of the opportunities to further her education whether that be informally or through our formal education programs and because of the great people she works with.
In addition to her regular duties, Stephanie volunteers her time to organize social activities for the Waterloo office. Back to Top
Ruth Harold
Customer Relationship Manager – Waterloo, ON, Canada
When joining Descartes seven and a half years ago, Ruth never expected that she would become involved in so many different areas of the organization. As a Customer Relationship Manager, Ruth is a primary liaison between our customers and our internal departments (Finance/Customer Support/Sales). In this role, she cultivates and manages relationships with our customers by uncovering their business challenges and identifying possible solutions using Descartes’ application which ultimately leads to increased customer satisfaction and revenue for Descartes.
Ruth’s duties keep her busy but she loves the challenge. She works hard to ensure that our customers and our employees are happy. In addition to her regular duties, Ruth often volunteers her time to organize social activities for the Waterloo office.
Ruth joined Descartes as a Customer Support Representative because she had a background in the transportation industry, a love of helping people and was up for a challenge. The people she works with and the relationships she has developed with our customer base are what keep her smiling each day. Back to Top
Ed Edwards
Customer Support Representative – Ottawa, ON, Canada
Ed joined the Descartes Team just under a year ago. In that time, he has become an important part of the organization. As a Customer Support Representative, he is responsible for providing technical support to clients using our ViaTrade Software to declare customs entries and regulatory filings to Canada and the USA.
Although, only being with us a short time, Ed has worked hard and helped in many ways. He has helped lead security reviews of logins and developstandard email notification messages to our customers advising of systems issues or maintenance. He has been a key player in ensuring Customer Support is well organized and a well-oiled group who can provide answers to questions quickly and efficiently.
Ed joined Descartes because of the work atmosphere and the work life balance - two things that are important to him in a potential place to work. He keeps coming back every day because of the office culture. The environment and the people he interacts with make every day enjoyable, no matter how challenging a customer’s request may be. Back to Top
Solomon Gebreendrias
ViaTrade Data Quality Administrator - Ottawa ON
Solomon Gebreendrias has been with Descartes for over 2 years. In that time, he has worked in our Viatrade Data Centre and now plays a key role as a ViaTrade Data Quality Administrator. Solomon’s position is integral to the department as he helps ensure our ViaTrade Database is accurate and up to date.
Solomon takes his role very seriously and is always looks for opportunities to assist others and improve our current operations. He joined the Descartes family because of the good working environment. He believes in the Company and could not be prouder of our ongoing successes. Back to Top
