An American in Reykjavik: My Introduction to the Payments Industry
My name is Martha and I am Handpoint’s technical writer.
I moved from the swampland of the southeast United States to this volcano island country two years ago so that I might find new opportunities. As it turned out, I would have been hard-pressed to find a better place to dip my toes into the payments industry. I consider myself very fortunate to have been able to make that choice. I’d discovered a new world ready to be explored, and a company more than willing to help me. Handpoint was instrumental in showing me what it meant to be part of a team that shares a common goal, but what makes Handpoint unique, besides its business model of security and simplicity, are the faces behind it. As someone who’s always enjoyed writing and learning about technology, I have found a home not only at Handpoint, but in Iceland.
After living and working in the United States my entire life, I wasn’t fully prepared for the differences I encountered on this side of the Atlantic. As an Atlanta, Georgia native, surrounded by trees and mosquitoes my entire life, I was struck by the stark beauty of the land and the humble, relaxed nature of the people living here. I didn’t miss the mosquitoes.
My first day on the job, I was nervous, but the friendliness and openness of my new coworkers put me at ease before long. Even though I didn’t come from a background of professional tech experience, I felt a real comradery with them. This wasn’t my first introduction to employment in Iceland, as a non-native and non-fluent speaker of the native language, I worked at unskilled labor jobs in a local school and a hotel prior to Handpoint. But once I landed this dream job, I found that it was the first time that I truly felt like I might belong with the people I would be seeing five days a week.
The next month was a real learning experience for me in interpersonal work relations. I had a thousand questions bundled with some worries that my associates’ patience with my lack of experience in the payments industry would run thin. Repeatedly, however, my new coworkers proved to be both patient and helpful. By the end of that first month, I realized something incredible: I was actually starting to get the hang of things. I’d learned how to use many of the most common organizational and collaborative software staples of the industry such as Confluence and GitHub, I was able to put my knowledge of English grammar and composition to some good use, and a few times I was even able to help my coworkers with projects of their own. I finally felt that I was contributing to the company in a small but meaningful way. Since then, I’ve only grown more comfortable with my role, and what I need to do to help this company thrive.
I’ve also gained some new insights into the payments industry, specifically the mobile payments sector. If I ever wanted to start my own business, Handpoint’s app and card readers would be my first choice, especially as someone who’s not already a veteran of the industry or a super technically knowledgeable programmer or developer. The solution itself is intuitive, even for someone who doesn’t know what they’re doing or if, like me, you tend to skip the user manual and go straight to a more hands-on approach to figuring things out. One can kind of look at it in the way that the product is a reflection of the team behind it: dedicated, straightforward, and friendly.
The employees are what make Handpoint what it is. They are the heart of the company, as they should be for any business that intends to thrive. I’ve never had the opportunity before to work with such diligent coworkers who are also genuinely enthusiastic about what they do. It’s infectious, and I find myself putting more effort into my work for the love of it than I have ever before. It isn’t often that one can say that they have a job that they love which also challenges them, but I’ve found mine.
Every day I learn something new, not only about the payments industry, but also my own skills and abilities. I feel more at home now in this country than ever, and that’s due in large part to the people I have had the good fortune to work with. They are also the same people that keep Handpoint moving forward and make it a forerunner in the mobile payments revolution.
