What It’s Like to Be on a Tech Team That’s Improving Lives
From the time I first interviewed at Mable, I really liked the idea of working on problems that would help improve people’s lives. Mable provides a meaningful service, and by working here, I can truly say I’m making a difference. Having this clear purpose for what you do is a big contrast to many other software engineering roles where all you’re worried about is pushing out feature after feature to sell a product.?
I started with Mable as a Backend Engineer working in a squad focusing on a specific part of the platform’s application. Recently, I moved to a new squad in a new role as a Product Engineer, which I’m enjoying so far. It’s a great opportunity to focus on technical challenges with a "wider angle". I’m learning how changes impact other parts of the application and other squads, which leads to designing and developing solutions that are smaller in scope but still address the challenges at hand.
A typical day at Mable
As a Product Engineer, I work with both backend and frontend developers to help remove any blockers, ensure the engineers on the squad have a prioritised list of tickets to work on in the current sprint and plan and schedule the work to be done on upcoming sprints. I also work with the squad Product Manager (PM) to ensure that the work we are planning to do addresses their documented requirements.
Working in squads was new to me when I joined Mable, but I have come to appreciate how well a small, focused group of engineers and designers can really dig into problems. I like being able to work on a variety of things here as well because we’re growing fast, and there’s always something new and exciting happening on the tech side. Our days are definitely busy!??
For example, I recently helped upgrade our worker search system, migrating it from a traditional server-rendered page to a set of Angular pages handling API responses. It was such an interesting project – one of my favourites so far, and it taught me a lot. I’ve always found that I learn best ‘on the job’, and it’s been good to get plenty of hands-on, practical experience at Mable. One of the biggest learnings has been iterating on a solution – learning how to build a small first version that addresses the basic problems and then iterating on that solution as we process feedback.?
The right work-life balance
My work aside, one of the great things about Mable is that we’re all encouraged to stay healthy, rested and balanced – no one is expected to work late or on weekends. We also have a ‘Wellbeing Hour’ where we get an hour of the day to just relax, with no meetings allowed to be scheduled.
But beyond that, the people themselves are incredible. Everyone is genuinely warm and welcoming, and the level of knowledge and expertise is impressive. Within my immediate team, we’re very open with each other, we listen to each other, and any decision we make is agreed upon and implemented together. All this makes for a great culture and a place that’s always nice to walk into.?
If this sounds like something you’d like to be a part of, good news: we’re hiring! You can check out our open roles here.?
Investor, advocate, philanthropist. MBA AGSM; B.Ec. Uni of Syd; GAICD
3 年Why are you called a rails engineer?
Senior QA Coach @ Mable | ISTQB? Certified | PSM I | PRINCE2? Practitioner | Test Strategy, Quality Coaching , Shift-left, Quality Assurance, Team Delivery
3 年??
Engineering Manager at Mable
3 年Nice one Kevin ??
Senior Talent Partner @ Airtrunk | Data Centre | Energy | Site Selection | DC Operations |
3 年Great article. #lifeatmable
People & Culture Leader | Strategic HR | NFP | ??
3 年Go Kevin McGill - great article! #dreamteam