Meet Daniel Butterfield, Junior Software Engineer

Next up in our Life at KOMODO series, we’re chatting to Daniel Butterfield.

Daniel joined us fresh from University a year back and slotted into the team as a Junior Software Engineer.

Right now, he’s working remotely and is based in the glorious Lake District, so the KOMODO Slack channel is awash with photos of rolling hills and lakes from his many adventures. When he’s not doing that, he’s busy coding and/or drinking coffee, so let’s hand over to Daniel to tell us a little bit about his role and experience so far…

Life at KOMODO: Junior Software Engineer

I applied for my role pretty much straight after getting my degree, and as I’d just graduated I wanted something close to Newcastle. The application process at KOMODO was simple and clear and I liked the way they were transparent about every aspect of the recruitment process. I’d seen a LOT of job adverts, and none of them had the personality and clarity that KOMODO did.

As a bonus, the commute was a lot shorter than my previous job and there was/is cool perks and benefits which turned out to be true. Even now, while we’re remote working, we get the occasional snacks and care packages delivered to us, which is great!

In a nutshell, what does your role entail?

I am currently a JavaScript/React developer working with one of our clients. I've bounced between a lot of projects already but I feel like I am going to be on this one for a while. In the morning I have two standup calls, one internally and one with our client; this means I will let both teams know what I did the day before and what I will be doing on that particular day and if I need help with anything.

I spend most of my day creating features and fixing bugs for their front-end application with four other members on the team; two seniors and two quality assurance. This usually means there is a lot of back and forth in Slack and Microsoft Teams!

What do you love most about working at KOMODO?

The people here are genuinely great. Everyone seems to have the interest of others in mind and there is plenty of opportunity to learn.

I've had some courses of Udemy just because I raised my hand and asked for them. As an agency too, I really like showing clients the features I have been working on, too. It can be stressful sometimes because we’re always full-throttle on projects, but overall I'd say it is a really positive experience. Every second week we have demonstrations and show off all our hard work.

Currently? I can work from "home" with my parents, meaning that I can save up for my own place and have easy access to beautiful walks since we live in Windermere, the Lake District.

Describe a typical day in your working life…

Pre-lockdown/remote-working, I lived in central Newcastle, so I'd stroll into work around 8, grab breakfast and a coffee, then spend about 10 minutes catching up on anything I missed in Slack or on email. Depending on the project at the time, I could have had a daily standup with a client describing what I was going to do that day.

My afternoons and pretty much from 9-10 onwards, I'd just be coding.

Most features or bugs we have to work on will be added as stories or tasks on apps similar to Trello and they are typically in priority order so I get to work on things in that order and work through as many as possible in a day. The development process is a whole bunch of coding, testing and reviewing. Coffee too, we all had a lot of coffee.

I worked 2 minutes from home so would occasionally pop home for lunch or visit one of the many brilliant places nearby (I really miss working in the city centre) to bring something back and make everyone else in the office jealous.

What 1 piece of advice would you give someone who was thinking of applying for a job at KOMODO?

Show that you are always willing to learn. That's pretty much what everyone here wants.

Oh yeah, there's also a technical challenge that may seem intimidating, but nothing is that bad after a few days of preparation!