What does a typical day look like for you in the Development team?
“Within the Development team, we have daily ‘Development Stand Up’ calls that bring the team together for a quick catch-up in the morning. This gives everyone in the team a great chance to catch up and see what everyone has been up to, and it also provides opportunities for team members who don’t always work together on specific projects the chance to get to know one another better which really helps to boost the team morale and keep spirits high.
I am often involved in daily calls for the specific project I am involved in which sees the specific Development team for this project on the call along with the Project Managers. This gives us all a chance to update one another on the project’s progress within each different subset of the team and address the next steps, deadlines, and what’s left to be completed.
Outside of the fast-paced projects that I am involved in, my day also consists of sinking my teeth into some other developing and coding, and also training sessions to further expand my knowledge within this field to help give me the advantage with the multitude of projects we work across as a team.”
What do you enjoy most about your role as a Junior Developer?
“The thing I enjoy most would be Research and Development. The reason it’s one of the things I enjoy most is that Research and Development means we as a business are constantly learning new things, and ever since I joined, I’ve been learning new things every day. Depending on the type of project I may be involved in, we’re always researching and looking for new technologies to involve within our projects, so my favourite part is being able to work across these new technologies that we’ve discovered through our Research and Development drive.
It’s so great to be involved in a team where we aren’t stuck in our ways and are constantly on the lookout for technologies that can help us evolve as a business and deliver top quality results for our clients.”
What do you find most challenging about your role?
“It can be a challenge when trying to constantly learn new things, and a lot of the projects that we work on are really fast-paced. I personally find this a challenging aspect of the role as my background means that this is the first time working as part of a team, so coming from not working in a team to working really fast-paced projects with a fast-paced team has been a challenge I have had to adapt to. Saying that however, there have been many pros to this challenge I’ve faced as it’s really entertaining and means I’m never bored as new and exciting projects come in meaning there is always something to be learned from each one.”
How have you managed to stay connected with the team whilst remote working?
“When I first started my role during the pandemic, after my first appraisal, the People Director said to me ”it must be quite difficult meeting new people and getting to interact with others by onboarding from home, how are you finding it?”, and in all honesty, I thought the complete opposite. I’m not always the most sociable person so the fact that we have online channels such as Slack and Notion meant I could get familiar with people before even coming into the office and it’s definitely helped me a lot. It’s made me feel really comfortable with the people I work with and definitely helped with my confidence by staying connected with calls and the various channels we have in place for the different teams to communicate with.”
Have you learned anything new in your time at FX?
“In a technical sense, ever since I started working at FX, whether it be new technology or a new methodology or way of working, we always seem to incorporate positive changes to the way we do things here and I feel like I’ve constantly been learning to improve my flexibility and have even learnt how to learn and apply things at a faster pace.”
What is the most important piece of advice you would give to someone starting out at the beginning of your career path?
“I’d definitely say that you need to keep an open mind to constantly learning new things. I think you can never just settle with one coding language and you should keep in mind that technologies and methodologies are rapidly changing and improving, and here at FX we are always trying to apply the best of these new changes to how we operate.”
What’s your favourite part about working at FX Digital?
“Personally, I love how modern and forward-thinking FX is in so many ways. The fact that everyone is so open-minded and aware of mental health and physical wellbeing is great. I feel like the team is aware that we actually need to be happy and enjoy the work we do to be able to perform well and do our jobs to the highest of standards.
At FX, you never get the feeling that you’re being used just for the work that you produce, you actually feel involved with the company and the various teams as a whole which makes you feel very valued.”
What would you like to see introduced at FX Digital in the future?
“In all honesty, there’s nothing I can think of that springs to mind, apart from the fact that I feel we should stick with the same mindset that we have as a company, so constantly wanting to improve and push the boundaries as this means we’re rapidly improving at a really good pace and I’m very excited for what the future holds at FX.”
What would you like someone who’s interested in applying at FX Digital to know?
“If you like what you see about FX Digital but feel that you may not fit every aspect of the requirements of the role, then as long as you’re open-minded and willing to learn new things and have the mindset of wanting to develop yourself, be sure to apply as you won’t regret it.”
