#TechABreak with Stephen, Backend Engineer at Personio

I start the day by going through Slack messages and emails while eating my breakfast. I then have a daily standup with my team where we share what we are working on for the day. Every day is different, so I might be writing code for a feature I’ve been working on, testing or reviewing code from a teammate, investigating a problem our team has faced, ensuring a release goes to plan, or taking part in a programming pairing session with a teammate.

Throughout the day I keep in regular contact with my team, whether that be a tech call with the other engineers to discuss a task we’re working on, doing some planning, or sharing something we have learned from a project. It’s always important to take a casual coffee break with some colleagues to re-energize, too!

Enjoying an Escape Boat team event.

On my team we have a Product Manager, an Engineering Manager, a Designer, a Product Expert, a Lead Frontend Engineer, a Senior Backend Engineer, and myself, a Backend Engineer. We also have a new team member joining very soon, and hopefully more to come! We all work closely together and often talk through our tasks together to get feedback. And as a wider team we often discuss and plan our work to get different perspectives from people in other roles.

My favorite part is getting to work with such a talented group of people! I feel very lucky to work at Personio as the standard is so high. I feel like I am always learning from those around me, and they push me to want to become a better engineer myself. It’s a really encouraging and supportive environment to work in.

I’ve recently been working on refactoring part of our application, improving the Personio product by allowing it to get data in a more efficient way, ultimately making the user experience a bit nicer. It’s what I love doing most: using my engineering skills to improve the Personio product for the end-user. 

The main thing I was looking for in a new role was somewhere that I could learn a lot and improve as an engineer. Personio was definitely the right choice! Alongside working with really talented colleagues, the work itself is really interesting and challenging, so there is always something new to learn.

There’s a really open and collaborative culture here, and everyone is willing to help each other and discuss any problems. I feel that everyone’s opinion is treated with importance in Personio, meaning that no one is left behind. As a result, there is a great feeling of team spirit and ownership. 

It’s a really fun atmosphere to work in, from the small chats with teammates to big team events. A great example is our All Company Culture Week, where Personios from all offices are flown to Munich for a week of celebrations and learning.

Playing tennis with the team!

DO IT! You will not regret it. After working at Personio for almost a year, I feel like I have learned so much and improved a lot as an engineer already. It’s a fun place to work, where every day you focus on solving problems for customers. It’s a company that really lives out our values of #SocialResponsibility and #CustomerEmpathy, and also allows you to work closely with great colleagues. What’s not to love?

Want to join Personio’s Product, Design, and Engineering team? Check out our open positions here – we’re hiring!