Daily life at ANIXE – from a Software Engineer’s perspective
"In the end, it all comes down to the people and the professional or personal bonds that we develop, which make us want to go to work," says Stathis, who works as a Software Engineer at ANIXE in Athens.
What does a typical developer's day look like at ANIXE?
There isn’t really a typical day, but surely there are some standard things that a developer will do, like: say good morning to everyone, make a cup of coffee or tea, and sync and talk with other team members. Since the work of the day has already been planned out, I tend to focus on development or other tasks at hand. Any communication that might be needed throughout the day is easy, as everyone is willing to help. Many times, meetings take place, mostly due to the agile methodology that we follow. All meetings are important, but my favourite is the Retrospective since the team gets to talk about what went right, what went wrong and how to improve in the future. When the time comes, we sit down and have lunch all together as a team, and it is our break for chatting about various topics, which helps us clear our minds and come closer as people. Then we get back to work until the time has come to either leave or have a game of pool and/or ping pong!
What project are you currently working on, and what do you like the most about this project?
I am working for Argo, which is responsible for Transfer Contracts. It is a complex project that involves many parties and needs. It also requires collaboration with other teams, which makes it even more interesting and challenging.
In which language do you program, and why did you choose it?
Typescript, because I love the chaos of JavaScript to be typed! It has a nice structure and object-oriented programming techniques. It is also the standard language of our favourite framework - Angular.
Nobody knows that:
My career started because when I was young, I suffered from insomnia and boredom. After spending hours watching the ceiling, I decided to send my résumé to the first three companies that I found at 3:30 a.m. Moral of this story: Darth Vader was right in saying, “Embrace the dark side”.
What is the best thing about ANIXE?
The people. I could choose one of many things like technologies and challenges, work-life balance and culture, or even the salary. Still, in the end, it all comes down to the people and the professional or personal bonds that we develop, which make us want to go to work. At ANIXE, one gets that feeling of being appreciated and listened to. We all share our feedback openly; we all listen with respect and then discuss our points, which leads to better collaboration and even better results. This process has proved to help us develop not only our working skills but our social skills too to become better people in general.
What do you enjoy doing after work to recharge your energy?
I would have to choose one of my hobbies, which are coding, working out and music production. So, I usually decide to go out for beers and burgers, which is simpler.
Do you have any advice for entry-level programmers?
Try not to overdo it regarding learning multiple languages. Decide on one or two and try to learn them well. Then move to frameworks, patterns, and best practices. Be open to code reviews and negative feedback, do not take it personally. Listen to the seniors, ask them any question and see how only a few wise words from them will take you further and faster. If you want to be a successful professional, act like it. Attend meetups and improve your soft skills. .