As a developer, you never stop learning. And that’s a good thing, because Brand New Day never stands still. And not one day is the same as another. Just ask Natalia and Joakim.
Easy, open and room for questions
“We are really encouraged to keep on learning,” says Joakim, one of the developers at Brand New Day. “There is a lot of movement within IT, which encourages us to keep developing our skills and learn new ones. This company also makes that easy, I have to say. People here are so easygoing and open and ready to lend a helping hand. At some companies, seniors can be dismissive of questions from juniors. Not here. Here people help each other and asking questions is encouraged.”
His collegue Natalia agrees: “It’s not at all hierarchical here, I can ask anyone a question at any time of the day. I think that’s very important in a company, and in my mind it’s much more efficient than a company with a complicated layered structure where you keep waiting for your question to get through all the layers. Everyone here is open to help, we are continually challenged to keep developing.”
Do or do not, there is no try?
Lots of challenges, growth and continuous learning. That sounds like a lot of pressure. Not necessarily, say Joakim and Natalia at the same time, because making mistakes is allowed at Brand New Day. In fact, it is encouraged. Natalia: “Failure is both a reality and an opportunity. They value failure a lot here and are eager to learn from it.” Joakim agrees with her. “I have seen many companies that are very closed and where everything has to be 100% finished and checked by every member of the board before release. In my opinion, that’s not very efficient and also a little boring. Brand New Day is not like that and it was also a reason why the company appealed to me so much.”
The customer comes first
Neither is afraid to break anything. Joakim: “By breaking things, you learn how they work. And to a certain extent that’s good. It has to be, because everything we do, we do for our customers. I believe that our pension products make people’s lives better. That sounds crazy to say because we are a bank, but I feel that our product is a noble one. Bank or not.”
Natalia: “For as long as I’ve been working here, I’ve been hearing that our customers come first. Many companies say that, but at Brand New Day I really see it. To give an example, I work on the app and we look at user feedback a lot. What they like and what they dislike. We use that information to make adjustments. We always have the customer in mind.”
And what about fun?
Joakim: “There are a lot of inside jokes in my team that have been built over the years. We can make jokes that everyone in the team finds hilarious, but outsiders wouldn’t understand. That’s very funny to me.”
Natalia: “For example, our team name is Apple Pie. The person who thought of it says it’s because we are mobile-related – app – but it is also very Dutch: appeltaart. We celebrate our milestones with apple pie.”
Want to experience for yourself what Natalia and Joakim mean? Take a look at our open vacancies. Or contact our HR department for a cup of coffee or tea. They look forward to it!
