What was your path to becoming an iOS developer?

My path was definitely unconventional. When I went to college, I studied humanities, then I did a master's degree in cultural economies in Australia. I found it all really interesting, but it didn't really excite me enough to push me in a clear career direction.

I ended up working as a chef for several years, but eventually realized I needed to do something else. I had heard about a coding bootcamp — an intensive course that lasts for three months and at the end you get a job. I had nothing to lose, so in 2017 I moved back to Amsterdam, lived with my parents, and started the course. I was completely overwhelmed, but by the end of it, I realized this was something I could actually do.

I think a lot of people relate coding to math and science, and I did too. But I find it really closely aligned to philosophy and language. I didn't study computer science, so I approach problem solving in a different way. I consider what the code is trying to achieve on a human level alongside its more technical aspects, identifying user needs and what might improve their experience. I think there's a lot of overlap between the humanities and coding.

What has the journey been like for you as a woman in tech?

I think being a chef is also quite male-dominated industry, so I've often found myself surrounded by men in the work that I do. But I try not to think about it too much. I think it's good to have representation across all segments of the organization. I don't really see a difference between men and women in capability and the work they do.

What brought you to Polasteps?

When I first saw the job listing, I unfortunately wasn’t a user yet though I wish I had been. My partner and I spent about a year and a half travelling and working remotely between 2022 and 2023, and in hindsight Polarsteps would have been the perfect companion for that period. Because of that, I really identified with the product's ethos as well the traveler-centric values held by the company.

I was also genuinely impressed by the quality of the product, and by the fact that the team is based in Amsterdam. While fully remote roles certainly have their advantages, I was particularly drawn to the company’s  in-person culture. Polarsteps places real emphasis on this, and I think that's what made me most excited about the role. I started in August 2023. Time has flown by! 

What does a typical working day look like for you?

Usually I get up and go through my Slack messages, mark all the important ones I need to keep track of. I try to start with some reviewing to see what other people have done in the team. I review other people's code or check the reviews on my code. So a lot of maintenance and stuff like that.

The nice thing is that as developers, we don't have a lot of meetings. If you're a manager, you have a lot more meetings, but I have a lot of freedom to focus. On some days we'll have refinements, but most of the time I can get stuck into it pretty soon.

Tell me about the makeup of your team.

I'm part of the Plan team, which is responsible for all the planning features in the app. We've got one product manager and one designer, one backend developer, and then two Android, iOS, and web developers. We recently added the web team and they're doing a great job. They're moving super fast and we now have the option to plan trips on desktop as well as in the app.

Is there a project or feature you've worked on that you're particularly proud of?

The nice thing about working on the Plan team is that when I started, we were just building out the features. Most things I've worked on since I started have been new features.

It's been really nice to see users adopt the features more and more. We're learning how people plan and what's important to them. We've added a lot of the basic necessities, and I'm really stoked that right now we're working on the redesign. We've been busy adding stuff over the past year, but now it's really nice to take a step back, look at it holistically, and make it a better, more seamless experience.

Let's talk about Polarsteps values. Is there one that stands out to you?

"We are Human" really resonated with me in my hiring process and day-to-day. I find Polarsteps to be a really people-focused company. You see this in everything from review processes and performance to how we work together as a team. There's an undercurrent of this value and everyone knows that it is okay to make mistakes. There's really a sense of collaborative energy that's focused on growth and not on being perfect all the time or blaming people. I think that's really important for healthy organizations, and I really feel like it's true here.

Is there anything about how the team works at Polarsteps that you think makes for great development?

There's a very high standard here. Every app has bugs so that's not a measure of whether something is good or bad. But what stands out is a sense of accountability.

I was pretty surprised that we have only one QA (Quality Assurance) Analyst for the whole company. At first I thought we should have more QAs, but now I understand the reasoning behind this is because you're responsible for the code that you merge into production. There's this sense of ownership and you just make sure it's right. Having more QAs would support this idea that someone else is going to fix your problem.

What advice would you give to someone joining the iOS team here?

I think my advice would be to take your time to get to know the codebase. Ask a lot of questions — everybody's really open to receiving questions and giving help.

And just have fun. It's a very fun team and a fun product to work on. It's really rewarding.