Meet Katarzyna and Łukasz from Nova Consulting Group Poland, the first two developers from the Polish team of Norwegian Epinova

Tell us a little about yourselves - what positions do you work in, and what are your personal interests?

Katarzyna Juszczyk: I am a front-end developer, and I have been in the industry for about 15 years. Interestingly, I work in a profession that aligns with my education, even though I studied cultural studies at Jagiellonian University. I completed a specialization in electronic information processing there, which is the equivalent of human-computer interaction. These are ideal studies for a front-end developer because they combine elements of UX, UI, psychology, and programming. And what am I interested in personally? In my free time, I ride horses, and I am currently also training as an amateur dog behaviorist. 

Łukasz Błachowicz: I am a back-end developer with over eight years of experience. I have been working with Nova Consulting Group for six months, specifically in the Epinova team. Personally, I am interested in photography and electronics. In my free time, I like to play computer games and RPGs, ice skate, and sing - for example, karaoke. 

Why did you decide to join the Epinova team at Nova Consulting Group Poland?

Katarzyna: I really value working with colleagues from Scandinavia. So far, I have worked with the Swedish fashion brand NA-KD and a software house from Sweden that had a branch in Poland. I really like the Scandinavian work culture, which I try to recreate here as well. 

Łukasz: For me, it's very similar. I once worked in a Scandinavian company and really liked the work culture there, which compared to others, gives a lot of freedom of action and a sense of trust in the employee. So I decided that my next employer would be a company from Scandinavia. Additionally, the Optimizely technology, in which I now have the opportunity to work at Epinova, was important to me. So these two things were very important to me when choosing an employer.

What were your first experiences related to working with Norwegian Epinova that you remember?

Łukasz: I remember that even though I was working remotely at the time, as the first Polish developer on the team, I was warmly welcomed by my colleagues from Norway. From the very beginning, I felt that I had a lot of support from them because they often asked if everything was okay and if I had any questions, and then they were very willing to answer them. 

Katarzyna: My first experience was also great because I had the opportunity to fly to Oslo, where we have a very nice office, and meet the people I currently work with. Thanks to this, we could get to know each other better, and we talked about how we want to work with the front-end. What's great about Epinova is that you don't have to be a specialist in everything. Of course, it's worth feeling comfortable in many different areas and technologies, but since front-end is a broad field, you can find a niche for yourself and develop in it specifically. It's also very nice, even unique, that Norwegians, due to legal requirements and culture, place a lot of emphasis on the issue of accessibility (ang. accessibility). So I could talk about this with my team colleagues. We also discussed how we want front-end work to look in this particular project. I immediately felt that we have a common vibe, which is a big advantage.

Can you share some information about the project you are currently working on?

Łukasz: Our client, an international organization providing consulting services for the maritime and energy industries, approached us with the need to change their CMS system to a newer one because the current one did not meet their requirements. The choice fell on Optimizely. Our task is to migrate from the old system to the new one, transfer existing content, and adapt Optimizely to the client's expectations. The project is currently in the code optimization stage and addressing technical debt. 

Katarzyna: We want our client to have a nice, convenient platform for content creation because they publish a lot. We want it to be a “state-of-the-art” solution. It should look as good as possible, be as intuitive and useful as possible for editors. An important element of this project is also the consulting aspect. We propose the best solutions in terms of architecture and usability. Since our client is a large organization where decision-making is distributed among many people, we try to coordinate everything, improve communication, and advise as best as we can in making important decisions. Building mutual trust and teamwork is also important, as our team is combined and consists of both Epinova developers and those on the client's side. We strive to create a nice culture and work dynamic together.

What does your typical workday look like?

Łukasz: Like every modern team in our industry, we start the day with a stand-up… 

Katarzyna: And even earlier with a shared coffee. Although we work in an international team where everyone can work remotely, Łukasz and I like to come to the office and usually take advantage of this opportunity. 

Łukasz: That's true. Additionally, between working on tasks, we have basic scrum meetings. At the beginning of the project, we missed this a bit because we wanted to deliver specific solutions to the client as quickly as possible. However, after some time, we concluded that we needed more space for discussion, feedback, and prioritization. 

Katarzyna: We managed to convince the client that team meetings, although they are, of course, a time cost because we are not working on specific tasks then, contribute to process optimization. And this ultimately translates into us completing tasks much faster. Thanks to this, we also have the space to propose certain improvements to the client, which are slowly starting to bring benefits. This is also evident in the meetings themselves, which are very substantive and valuable, even though more than ten people participate in them.

What do you like most about your current job?

Łukasz: I value the fact that we have a lot of trust from management. It's not like what I've sometimes experienced in Polish companies, where the boss watches your every move and dictates exactly what you should be doing at any given moment. Here, we assume that we're all working towards the same goal and work independently to the best of our abilities. However, if someone has a problem, everyone assumes they will ask for help to solve it, and that help will always be provided. So, I would highlight such transparency in work and freedom of action. They allow you to feel that you have full trust and decide for yourself about your day and what you are doing at any given moment. Importantly, the client is satisfied with our work, so it's clear that this approach simply works. 

Katarzyna: In addition to what Łukasz said, I really like that we have an influence on many different things. Instead of just completing tasks one after another, a broader perspective matters here. If we have any suggestions regarding the process, planning, prioritization, or how to solve a particular problem, we can always propose them openly and discuss them. Very often, these suggestions affect how we work with the client or how we implement the project, and that's great.

Thank you for the interview!