Sebastian works at the Vaadin office in Berlin and is currently occupied with some upcoming new products and proof of concepting them. He joined Vaadin in the beginning of March, so only 5 months in the company and already working in Vaadin projects at full speed.
Q. What did you do before Vaadin?
I worked as an IT-consultant in Germany for a couple of years and mostly did projects in the area of financial services. Before that I finished my studies of Computer Science in Berlin and tried to spend as much time as possible abroad and face intercultural challenges.
Q. Why did you decide to join Vaadin?
During my studies I came in touch with Vaadin for a small web-application and I was very excited about the technology, with how little effort I could create a proper and good looking website, and the exchange in the community. When Vaadin decided to open an office in Berlin, I instantly wanted to join the Vaadin team and work with the newest technology trends at the market.
Q. What’s it like working in Vaadin’s Berlin office with Finnish and US colleagues?
There are challenges, we are in different time zones and locations. However, we overcome this with using modern technologies to communicate and share ideas. For example, to create technical concepts or plan projects, we are using different web applications that anyone can access. This is the perfect basis to provide an overview or discuss ideas over the distance. In this way, we are exchanging and sharing a lot of ideas with our colleagues every day, and the Vaadin team members are travelling between offices regularly which is great in my opinion.
Q. What has been the most surprising thing?
How free I actually am in choosing my way of working - we have been given the freedom to use the best possible tool to succeed in our job. That is really cool - there is trust among colleagues and the team. The other point that I am surprised by is that for the most part Vaadin people fit very well together - so it does not matter in which location, nationality or gender you are.
Q. What makes this a great workplace?
The free choice of hardware and equipment, new projects are offered by asking us ‘what would you like to do ?’, and our own strengths are used in the best possible way. I have the possibility to influence on my own job. That is great!
Q. What do you do in your freetime and does it help your work somehow?
I do a lot of sports, e.g. cross-fit and badminton with colleagues, since we sit a lot in our work, the software business is like that by nature. In addition, I love to travel - it is really good to get different points of view on cultures and also to relax. Travel experiences help when we have diverse customers from diverse/different countries - it helps to communicate and understand them better.
Q. What would you say is the #1 reason for working at Vaadin?
Because of the amazing people! It is really the mostly the great team behind the technology, we are all for all (not for one), super team work is the key success factor. The environment is open for discussion and opinions - we share our common challenges and try to solve them together, really.
