Last Thursday’s third annual GrumpHunt – a company-wide scavenger hunt-style event named after Qumulo’s Grumpquat mascot – put Qumulons worldwide to the ultimate test. But something was different this year.
Historically the GrumpHunt had teams solving clues and puzzles from our Seattle headquarters while fellow teammates hit the streets around the city to find various locations tied to those clues. It’s been a big team bonding tradition. This year’s event posed a whole new challenge. The hunt became remote! From baking a cake to climbing a tree, Qumulons had their work cut out for them. And so the hunt began!
Ten teams with members representing all parts of the organization were challenged to think outside the box for puzzles that required exploring a virtual world of three houses, solving devious logic puzzles, capturing a team photo over Zoom that featured random items around the house, putting their singing chops to the test in a music video, navigating Google Street View, using their vast array of knowledge to solve riddles featuring the letter Q, and much, much (we mean it) more.
Teams even battled each other going head-to-head in the Qumulon Quarrel, a virtual “Family Feud” style gameshow. With each successful solution, teams received a new word from the Qluemasters that would lead them one step closer to the final puzzle and land them in the winner’s circle.
Ultimately one team stood apart from the rest. In the end, Team GrumpsterFire triumphed with a winning score of 172 out of 173 points total, a new Grumphunt record!
The idea for the GrumpHunt came from Ezra Cooper, a member of Qumulo’s technical staff, back in 2018, and was planned and executed by Cooper, Patrick Jakubowski (Qumulo Technical Staff) and Lindsie Winthrop (Technical Content Developer), all of whom still act as Qluemasters today. This year, they were joined by Alex Alvarado (Creative Director), Amos Eshel (Qumulo Technical Staff), Karla Franco (ISV Business Development Manager), and Graeme Williams (Qumulo Technical Staff) to successfully execute one of the best Grumphunts to date, bringing people together in a time when they need it most.
Back in 2018, Cooper said the following when asked about the reasoning behind why he came up with this beloved Qumulo event. “There’s something special about this company that inspired me, and I think inspired all the others, to do something like this. There’s a terrific feeling of ‘teaminess’ here that we tapped into, and I think it’s a huge credit to the founders, and the execs, to have created and preserved that feeling.”
Grumphunt 2020 proved that while a lot has changed, the shared feelings of Qumulons that speak to our core value, “build a team of people you’re proud to know,” certainly have not.
Looking to join a growing company that offers both career opportunities AND amazing team-building activities like the Grumphunt? Check out our Careers page for a list of our job openings!
