Creating value for others.

Meet Klaus! Klaus is from Germany and recently joined Jayway by Devoteam in Stockholm. We picked his brain to understand what is important for him in his job and why he keeps doing what he does.

Why do I do what I do?

I enjoy solving challenging problems together with others! Finding an elegant solution for complex problems is rewarding and exciting, especially when it results from teamwork.

At Jayway I work with people from all around the world. The diversity in their backgrounds makes the work not only more interesting and fun but it also allows me to grow personally and professionally. I have a lot of really skilled colleagues from whom I can learn a lot. At the same time, I can share my experience and try to help them too. This is very important to me.

What do I do?

I am a Senior Backend Developer with a focus on Java backend development. As such, I am fortunately able to work on a wide variety of different tasks.

I can, for example, be responsible for designing and implementing the architecture of a new software system. As a lot of customers already have software systems running for a long time, another task can be to adapt the existing architecture to new requirements or to identify and implement improvements in the existing architecture. A typical example nowadays is to support the customer in migrating an existing solution to a cloud-based solution. Likewise, I could be responsible for designing, implementing or extending APIs or designing and establishing testing strategies. In all these scenarios it is crucial to identify the customer-specific needs and challenges and to take these into account when consulting the customer.

Luckily, I am not limited to any particular domain or business area, which is interesting as I get new experiences and meet many different kinds of people through my work.

How do I do it?

In my current project, we work in a scrum-team. It’s a mix of developers from Jayway and developers and business analysts from the customer. We regularly have online meetings in which we, e.g., plan the work for the next sprint, discuss how we can improve our work or just have technical discussions on how to solve specific problems.

During each sprint, there are different ways of working. The most common way of working is that multiple people collaborate to work on a task. Usually, this involves people from both Jayway and the customer. It works because, in the end, we all have the same goal of solving a particular problem which is essential to success when you want to create digital products. It doesn’t matter who your employer is, but it is all about working together to solve the same problem. Especially when we work distributed as in the current project I am working on.

My number one motivation for my job.

It is hard to pinpoint, but as I said I like challenges and solving challenging problems. It’s particularly motivating if I can create real value for other people and make their life easier or better. Not just the technical aspect, but actually to help somebody by solving a problem for them through my work.

Of course, it makes me feel good to do meaningful work and not just receiving a paycheck at the end of the month. It means more to do something at the end of the day for others. That motivates me.

The top-3 values for choosing my workplace

1. The first big value for me is the company culture and company values. As examples for this; I appreciate transparent and honest communication. If there is a problem I want to hear it directly from the source and not through others. Furthermore, I need to work in a company that creates a “safe” work environment. You need to feel that it is okay to make mistakes – as long as you try your best and you try to learn from it to make it better next time. It’s not productive with constant pressure to perform. My leader needs to support me. That is the most important thing.

2. The second most important value is a good work/life balance. In the end, I don’t want to work all day to say at the end of the week “okay, I worked a lot, that’s it.” I want both a job that fulfils me but I also need time for myself. I look for a workplace that encourages a healthy work/life balance.

3. The third value for me is the encouragement to grow personally and professionally. Specifically competence development for example within a new technology or framework, or even soft-skill development. To me, it’s important to have leaders that support me and give the time to do it and show it’s important to the organisation.

Are you a developer that shares some of the same values as Klaus? Then we would really like to meet you!