UseCase

Meet Our Technology Team, Stratus

Technology is at the core of what we do at FireStart, and having a creative and passionate technology team is super important. Learn more about the people that build FireStart in this Q&A.

Creating technology that improves lives is what drives us at FireStart. We want to deliver products to our customers that improve their daily work life, reduce stress, and avoid cases of overwhelm and burnout. Front and center of our minds is always: how can we help companies perform as one?

At FireStart we have an amazing technology team that really understands what perform as one means to our customers. They’re always coming up with new and creative solutions to common problems and thinking outside the box when it comes to what we can deliver to potential customers.

Stratus is just one of our teams that works to deliver quality systems. They’re passionate, willing to go the extra mile, and always on the lookout for the next best technical implementation. Get to know more about them in this Q&A!

What do you enjoy most about your job?

Stefan: The people at FireStart. If I have a flat tire at 3am in the morning, they are the kind of people that would fight over who can help me first.

Karim: The team and the people I’m working with, but also the constant challenges and problems we face. It wouldn’t be as exciting if there wasn’t a challenge to overcome.

Valentin: A highly motivated team that practices collaboration, supporting each other, and building something great together without blame or negative energy.

Daniel: The collaboration within the team and continuously improving together.

Thomas: Working with long term friends and challenging each other to constantly improve.

Lukas: The team! It is amazing how everyone helps each other.

Manuel: Building a high-quality cloud application, that is destined to make the lives of people easy, fast and hassle-free. We build something here, that can bring real value to our customers.

How do you start your typical workday?

Stefan: I am currently in the progress of adding a book reading session before I start my workday. Usually, our team standup is the kickoff where we start working on the current sprint.

Karim: After coming to the office, I usually read until we have our daily standup where we then talk about the current state of the sprint.

Valentin: I start my workday with the daily standup where I sync with the team about possible challenges and the progress of the sprint.

Daniel: I start every day with a morning routine I have developed over time. Meditation and a morning coffee are an important part of my routine – plus not looking at my phone until I have been awake for over 30 minutes. It’s really important to me that I have a positive start to my day.

Thomas: A coffee, go to the standup and then take the next ticket from the board to start working on.

Lukas: I’m working at FireStart alongside studying, so my day is a little different. I usually come to the office after my lessons which means I wake up early, about 5:30am, so I have enough time for a morning routine before getting my work done.

Manuel: Gather with my colleagues to discuss upcoming work and celebrate the finished tasks.

What is the first thing you do when you face a new challenge?

Stefan: Take a step back and discuss the aspects of the upcoming topics with my team.

Karim: I try to think about underlying issues that could be the actual cause of the problem before trying to tackle it. I make sure I’m always in sync with the team to be as efficient as possible.

Valentin: I think about it how to solve it and talk to my team about my assumptions and iterate on them.

Daniel: I focus first on being effective vs efficient. Being effective means ensuring that I really understand the challenge. Being efficient means making sure that it’s the correct thing to be working on right now. Then I can understand if the challenge is caused by a different problem which might need to be tackled first. Generally, I try to look at the challenge from a bird’s eye view to see the big picture. This helps me to be as efficient as possible.

Thomas: Make an assumption about how to solve it. Quickly tell a team mate and ask for feedback on that idea. I try not to waste any time and implement a solution as quickly as possible before refactoring.

Lukas: At first, I try to solve the problem on my own. I think about what the reason for the problem could be, and take a step back and see the bigger picture. If I can’t find a solution on my own because I am stuck, I usually ask one of my co-workers for help and then we can fix the problem together.

Manuel: Study the problem and really get to know it. I find it useful to not jump to the first solution I think of, but ask about the what and the how and the why. It’s the most rewarding experience when you don’t quick-fix it, but forever-fix it.

What is unique about being a software developer at FireStart?

Stefan: I have worked at many different companies, from startups to big governmental corporations, and the biggest difference is the management principles and the amount of change that is possible at FireStart. If things don’t work out, we simply change and improve towards perfection.

Karim: FireStart in a nutshell is all about continuous improvement. I also like that we are a self-organizing team with the autonomy and responsibility and to share failures and successes.

Valentin: People here don’t work because they “have to” or only for money. They work here because they have a genuine passion for what they’re doing. I wouldn’t have thought it was possible to have so much fun and get work done at the same time.

Daniel: The atmosphere and the colleagues I would say mostly. Also working and having influence on a product with great potential is really enjoyable.

Thomas: The colleagues here are super cooperative and ready to help you with anything. The constant improvement mindset also helped me grow personally.

Lukas: The management structure and the co-workers. It’s amazing to see how everyone is there for each other and the one-on-ones where you can talk about serious things and get help if needed are really interesting and helpful.

Manuel: We don’t blindly follow processes and use techniques. We question and change everything to create the best product possible in the most healthy environment possible with us getting as smart as possible in the process.

What tool can you absolutely not live without in your day-to-day work?

Stefan: JetBrains products and their Shift-Shift functionality. I just love developing with them.

Karim: Automated pipelines that allow us to eliminate a lot of tedious work from our development flow.

Valentin: Having at least two screens to have information ready while developing in my IDE.

Daniel: Not sure if this counts as a tool but I would say shortcuts. Not only the typical shortcuts but also finding ways to reduce the needed manual input to reach a certain output on the PC. This greatly reduces the delay between the moment I want to do something and the moment I managed to do it on the PC. Then I can more easily reach a flow state with my work.

Thomas: JetBrains IDEAs. Have been working with their products for a long time and I am way too used to their workflows and shortcuts.

Lukas: Shortcuts in our development software.

Manuel: The IntelliJ IDE suite. These programs really help me thrive.

Join us and make a difference

Interested in joining the FireStart team? Apply for an internship in our technology team.

Header

Tags