Taking Dogfooding to the Next Level in Prague

Vla?ka Jandeková is our SDET Lead in Prague. Working as a software engineer has been her dream job for some time, and she’s enjoying living that dream. She likes the collaboration, the support, and that she gets to solve difficult problems.?

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But, let’s start from the beginning. Believe it or not, her story starts with a pet store.?

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Question: How did you find yourself owning a pet store???

Answer: I had always dreamed of having a Golden Retriever and one day, the moment came and I bought my first dog Momo. Like many dog owners these days, I started to order dogfood online.??

When we received the first parcel, we were unpackaging it and my boyfriend at the time said, “I would love to have an online pet supply store. But it would be difficult – maybe impossible.” I love to help people make their dreams come true and I don’t want to shy away from a challenge, so that was the start of it.??

Having a shop was a challenging experience. At the beginning I was totally absorbed by it. One of the highlights was coming up with the name which increased sales from our city by 80%, creating our own delivery system, and creating our own trademarked products. I even created our logo myself, using Momo as the model.?

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Q: What was that experience like? What did you learn??

A: After running the shop online, we eventually decided to open a brick-and-mortar store in the city center. We built our brand on customer service. I studied dog nutrition and behavior to make sure we were recommending the best products.?

It worked. In a few years, we were well known throughout the city and across Czechia. We had gone from doing business out of a garage to making over one million CZK per month. It was satisfying, but was also becoming stressful because you inevitably have customers who are unhappy.?

One day I woke up and I didn’t want to get out of bed. I was exhausted and also discouraged because I had stopped learning. For years, I had the dream of being a software developer, so I started studying software engineering at the university.?

Looking back, I don’t see the shop experience as a wrong turn. It taught me a lot. I learned to listen to people and to deal with them, problem-solving, organization, strategic thinking, and resilience. I use all those things in my current position.?

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Q: What was that transition like??

A: My journey from the pet shop to Software Engineer was like a tornado. For four and a half years, I simultaneously studied and worked full-time. One day, I had three university exams and one job interview. Some of my hair probably fell out.??

Ultimately, it was an energizing time. Maybe it sounds crazy, but I felt like a sponge absorbing all that information, learning so much interesting and new knowledge and skills. It was empowering. I realized that I could do whatever I want.??

I was able to become a full-time Software Engineer, and now I’m leading a team at Alteryx.?

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Q: Can you tell us more about what you do here at Alteryx???

A: I’m the Team Lead for the SDETs team. Since we currently work with 7 teams, we need to sync on a daily basis to be sure we are moving things in the same direction. We also share solutions so we’re learning from each other and not repeating work. But, at the same time, teams can have different processes and test frameworks depending on technologies they use. We work together to decide what to keep unified and what should stay separate.?

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Q: What do you enjoy about being a Team Lead??

A: I love people – I love listening to them, supporting them, and coaching them to be happy and successful in everything they do. I believe that beautiful things happen when you smile. In other words, when someone is happy and motivated, they can do amazing things. That’s the environment I try to create in my team.?

I also love solving difficult problems. It’s important to constantly seek improvement and to break status quos.??

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Q: What are your favorite things about Alteryx???

A: I really love how open and friendly Alteryx is. People here are very supportive. They are great professionals with amazing experiences and out-of-box thinking. However, at the same time there is no ego. Everybody is so humble that I even cannot believe it.??

In the past when I joined a company or a new project, it was challenging for me to get up to speed because I was shy to ask questions and investigated everything by myself. That way is much slower and not as effective as just asking for help. At Alteryx, I have immediately felt like in my second home.?

I really love how we stick together as a team. I feel like we all know that we can’t succeed alone. Although we all pull for one rope, our team is very diverse and everybody is so unique. Everybody has unique experiences and ideas and that is something that pushes us forward in learning from each other.?