There are two kinds of projects on the product development team, the long-term, 12-month projects for a major product release, and the short-term, 3-month projects for quarterly version releases. A short-term project might include a team of three or four people, who develop a prototype, release it to selected customers who download it from the Web and provide feedback before it is released to the general public. Long-term projects typically involve ten to twenty people, with subteams, and adhere to a more structured methodology from feasibility study through product launch and follow-up.

Dress is business casual; jeans are ok, but are seen more often on Fridays. Official hours are 37 1/2 hours. Technical professionals typically work around 50 hours a week, with flextime. Travel requirements range between five and ten percent. Telecommuting extends to employees working from home in Florida, Utah, New Hampshire, Maine, and Ireland. Turnover is typical of the high-tech marketplace at 24 percent.

Benefits include both HMO and point-of-service medical plans. Says Terri Shomohara, Senior Director of Compensation and Benefits, "We have very competitive benefits. The company pays for an HMO for its employees and their families." This company-paid benefit extends to dental, accidental death, and life insurance, and most of the cost of a vision plan. There are 12 holidays, including one personal day, and 10 sick days. Vacations start at three weeks, and go to four weeks after six years. Employees may sell back vacation days, but must take at least five days a year. Supplemental benefits include a dependent care information resource, an employee assistance program, tuition reimbursement, and domestic partner benefits. The company contributes to a 401(k) plan as well as a profit-sharing program. There is a fitness center at corporate headquarters, a cafeteria on-site, and some concierge services, like dry cleaning pickup. There have been layoffs, generally when offices were consolidated, or the company re-oriented its business. Severance packages are based on years of service, and include COBRA extended medical benefits and outplacement services.

There is free coffee, tea, chocolate, and filtered water. Bagels and fruit are available for free every Thursday. The Candle Connection is a monthly celebration, with breakfast pastries, during which employees are honored for their long-term service (1,5,10,15, 20, and 25 years of service) with gifts like Cross pens, or items of their choice from a gift catalog.

Social activities include sporting events such as ski trips, ball games, whale watching, summer picnics, a Halloween party with costume contest for employees' children, and a formal winter holiday dinner. Recent trips have included an airport museum and a car exhibit.

Five hundred twenty-eight of the company's employees work at corporate headquarters. Aubrey Chernick, founder of Candle, is still its Chairman and Chief Executive Officer. Chernick revolutionized the business of selling in the computer industry by spending two years telemarketing the company's early products - the first time high-end mainframe software had been sold over the phone. Chernick developed OMEGAMON, diagnostic software for mainframes, to help customers better understand and manage their systems. All the company's suite of tools are designed to help customers integrate, manage, and monitor the performance and effectiveness of their systems from the customer's perspective at the Web, on the desktop, and in legacy systems. As Chernick explains, "The enemy in e-business is the second hand on a clock."

New candidates are found through online recruiting (50 percent; monster.com, hotjobs.com, dice.com), employee referrals (30 percent), personal networking (10 percent), advertisements (5 percent), and employment agencies (5 percent). Last year, Candle hired more than 300 technical professionals worldwide, including some for entry-level positions. In the next year, the company expects to hire 500 additional employees worldwide, with approximately 350 of these for technical positions.

There is a dual technical/management career path. Job titles include Associate Software Developer, Software Developer, Senior Software Developer/Manager, Advisory Developer/Senior Manager, Consulting Software Developer/Director, Senior Director, Assistant Vice President, and Vice President.