Working at KOMODO: Associate Software Engineer

Ever wondered what it’s like to be an Associate Software Engineer at KOMODO? Wonder no more. Next in our “day-in-the-life” series is Daniel Carney. Dan joined the PHP team fresh from University around 8 months ago.

Here’s his KOMODO story to date… 

I’ve been with KOMODO since late summer 2019, shortly after I graduated from Northumbria University with a Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science. From the off, I knew there was something about KOMODO that I wanted to be part of.

The job listing looked different to what I’d seen from other agencies, it had a lot more personality and I liked how the posting clearly stated the interview process (phone call, technical challenge, lunch) so I knew what to expect.

The lunch part especially was surprising. My initial thought was that they actually cared about the people that are taking the time to interview that they were prepared to take the time to get it right, which was really refreshing to see.

After the onsite interview, I knew that I wanted to work there. I was offered a Starbucks coffee and taken for lunch. The office environment was also great, I could tell it was very relaxed and the existing team seemed quite at home. Overall, it was a really positive experience. I had high expectations, but they were surpassed and now, well, I’m glad to be a member of the team!

I’m now part of the PHP team, working with libraries such as Symfony and Laravel. I primarily work with the team and with clients to estimate tickets. My main role is to complete tickets and to write unit tests for everything that I do and I communicate regularly with clients in daily stand-ups.

There’s a real test-and-learn internal culture at KOMODO so I also regularly review work from other members of my team, which encourages collaboration and helps me learn from my highly skilled colleagues.

What do you love most about working at KOMODO?

Easily, the team. They are all really talented, anytime I need help I can always count on someone to help figure it out. At this early stage in my career, I’m lucky to have such experienced and skilled colleagues who can not only help but are actually happy to do so.

I’ve learned so much by asking for help and having my work reviewed by more experienced developers.

Since lockdown, we have done a full team standup each morning. It has been interesting to find out what the designers and javascript teams have been working on and has given me another dimension of understanding to what we do at KOMODO, outside of my own day-to-day. I also love the openness of senior management - we’re regularly consulted on how things should be done, we’re communicated with regularly on what’s happening with the business and the town hall meetings help to understand where we’re headed. It’s exciting to hear and be a part of an established team doing great things.

What does a typical day look like for you?

Every day starts with a coffee, then I’ll check emails and Slack for anything urgent. I’ll do some development work until about 11 am, then attend our daily standup meeting. After this, it’s more development until lunchtime!

Lunchtime is flexible so we all get to do what we fancy. Some people bring in lunch, go for a walk or sit on the terrace, some will go out together to somewhere nearby and if we’re all celebrating a special occasion or some good news, it’ll be a big team lunch somewhere in town.

Usually, after lunch, there aren’t any more meetings for me personally, so I’ll spend the rest of the day doing more development, testing and reviewing work by others in the team.

And drinking coffee. We have a great coffee machine.

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

Be honest during your phone interview and be prepared for the technical challenge. It's totally okay to not know something, but showing that you have put in the effort to try and understand will go a long way.