How Coder Constructed a "Weird" Culture Across Time Zones

Helping developers stay in flow

Coder is a cloud-based development environment company that began with a mission to move software development to the cloud. Today, they are expanding into new territories like "Boundaries," a product designed to set guardrails for AI agents in controlled environments.

At the heart of their mission is the value "Stay in flow", an ethos dedicated to removing friction so developers can do their best work, from smooth onboarding to efficient workflows.

Founded in Austin, Coder embraces the city’s famous motto: "Keep Austin Weird". One of the company’s core values is literally "Always Be Weird," which encourages employees to bring their full selves and niche passions to work, from European football to video gaming.

But maintaining that level of personal connection is difficult when your team is spread across more than 12 countries, including the U.S., Europe, South Africa, and Australia.

"It takes a really special group of people to be able to work together like that," says Hannah Hoffmann, People Ops Associate at Coder. "We have Australians right now who are a 12-hour difference from Central time. It takes collaboration and effort to make sure people feel included."

Even with its rapid growth, the Coder team still prioritized making new hires feel included and recognized, regardless of their location. Celebrating individual and team milestones is a huge part of its culture, and Coder partnered with Chocolate Soup in 2023 to help make recognition as seamless as possible.

A perfect cultural fit

For Coder, the partnership with Chocolate Soup wasn't about forcing a new initiative; it was about amplifying what was already there. LEGOs were a massive part of Coder’s culture, with active Slack channels dedicated to sharing builds and discussing sets.

"It was honestly a very easy fit for us," Hoffmann says. "Being a tech company, a lot of people played with LEGOs for a really long time and continued that into adulthood."

Coder utilized Chocolate Soup to create a system of personalized, tangible recognition that required minimal administrative lift:

• Onboarding: New hires select custom minifigures with specific accessories (Hoffmann’s features a cat and an ice cream cone).

• Milestones: Employees receive custom bricks for work anniversaries and major company wins, like hitting over 100,000 stars on GitHub (including 10k on its main repo) or reaching 100 employees.

• Values-Based Awards: Custom bricks are awarded for specific achievements, such as "The Archer" for targeted project work or "Number One Tinkerer" for embodying the company's "Always Tinker" value.

Tangible connection and "Number One Dads"

The program has turned abstract milestones into physical trophies. In a remote world where work happens on screens, Coder employees now have growing stacks of bricks on their desks representing their tenure and impact.

The flexibility of Chocolate Soup allowed Coder to get playful with their recognition. At its annual offsite, Coder awards superlatives with custom bricks for achievements like Number 1 Dad, Best Lunch & Learn, Most Commits, and Customer Champion.

"It’s a really immediate way to feel included because everybody has one," Hoffmann says. "It’s really cool, especially in such a remote environment, to be able to have something shipped to your door and to see a physical, tangible representation of how long you’ve been here."

For the People Ops team, the value lies in the simplicity. Despite the high level of customization, the administrative burden is low.

"I send a report once a week, and [Chocolate Soup] is so on top of it," Hoffmann says. "It fills the gap with minimal admin on our end."