New Cradler: Jessica
You never forget your first hire because it marks the first step in a long journey where someone else is both crazy and idealistic enough to jump on your ship. The ship that is still tied to a wavering dock, unsure of its destination but with enough fuel in the tank to make it out past the horizon. To raise the stakes even higher, this individual had never met us (in person) but took the offer anyway.
Jessica joined us over Thanksgiving of 2016 (again, the only American in the room) while she was alone in Auckland, waiting for a couple of strangers to arrive to start this company called Cradle. Not long after, James and I showed up with our suitcases and met her at a cafe in Britomart (the day before we interviewed Neil), and surveyed the CBD to find a suitable office to work in. We looked at several co-working spaces but none of them gave us the right vibes. Then James had remembered an office space that he so desperately wanted to work in at his old company but couldn’t, which brought us to 111 Wellesley Street.
It felt “just right” straight away and after convincing a group of able-bodied blokes to help us lift our work tables into our office (it took two separate days and six men), Cradle was safely able to grow and nurture in a space that we proudly called home.
It was only Jessica, James and myself for a couple weeks before Neil had joined us. It felt quite innocent at the same when all we were working on was a prototype with zero customers to account for. The ambition was brewing nonetheless, and everything became more real when we had our first set of Beta customers trialing our service.
Fast forward another 18 months, the team has grown to 7 (about to be 8) where the noise is through the roof, the plants no longer fit in their pot and Cradle is used by hundreds of happy users with many more in the horizon. We are forever grateful for Jessica taking a chance on us then and we are excited to see what amazing product she will be able to help build in the future.
So what does Jessica have to say about his experience so far:
1. How do you feel about your experience thus far working at Cradle?
I love my teammates and the overall flat environment. The service we offer is getting more reliable and exciting for our users. I am also glad that I can learn and work on cross-platform projects. Finally, I am used to the yoga ball now.
2. What’s been your favorite project/part of working here?
I learned to write code in Swift and it’s pretty fantastic.
3. Where do you see yourself in 2 years?
I’d like to grow with Cradle and continue to work cross-platform.
4. What do you like to do outside of work?
I like to explore parks around my neighborhood and baking!
