Most developers have it all on paper, but… how enjoyable is that without influence and overtime as a rule?
Written by Rik van den Brule, Tech Lead at Luscii
I hear this all the time from colleagues at other companies. The developers work as an agile team, but the rest of the organisation is as traditional as it gets. Then, through the hierarchical chains of the business process, a detailed plan is drawn up without taking technology into account, and then you, as the developer, are expected to carry it out. If you respond with: ‘It is doable, but not in the way you are proposing’, they barely listen. And you end up going back to your desk anyway, as the deadline is set. Another sixty-hour working week and pizza at the office…
At Luscii, things are different. Firstly, we have no managers. And no office either, but I’ll come back to that later. We work according to an organisational model known as Holacracy. Everyone has their own roles and responsibilities. So, if you think something should be done differently, you can adjust the processes. You will never get left with an impossible project on your plate. The entire organisation works agile, and you will be involved in projects from the start. There is always a dialogue between desires and possibilities. Which is not to say that we are cautious at Luscii. On the contrary, we like to strip extreme projects down to their core. And then build very quickly. In that sense, as a developer, you can significantly determine the future of projects.
As everyone has their own responsibilities, we work together very efficiently. We don’t do lengthy meetings, which saves time. That’s why we work a four-day week and get paid for five. The balance between work and free time is important, and not just in job advertisements. You can work whenever it suits you. Are you a night owl? That’s fine by us. We’ll see what you came up with in the morning, just as you are off to bed :)
What Luscii does is important to society. I know that’s not important for every developer, but it is for me. The healthcare sector is overloaded, and we use our product to reduce the need for hospital visits. Nurses and doctors use the web applications I create. It is a huge challenge to present large amounts of information in a clear and concise manner. If we make progress, the workload of thousands of healthcare professionals will be reduced. That makes me really happy.
The importance of Luscii’s work became clear during the Corona crisis. As a relatively small scale-up, we even won a Prix Galien Award, the ‘Oscar of healthcare’. Received for creating programs at lightning speed that helped relieve the burden on healthcare.
I myself contributed to that, too. During the first wave, in March 2020, Luscii developed the Corona Check together with Amsterdam’s OLVG. Citizens could download our app and report Corona-related symptoms. With the help of our Clinical Engine, the AI heart of Luscii, those potentially suffering from Corona were singled out. A team from OLVG then made contact.
The app quickly became very popular. Tens of thousands of users in the first week, which demanded a great deal from our infrastructure and meant a lot of alerts for caregivers. Either the Corona Check would become completely overloaded, or it had to be made more efficient in a safe way. The caregivers followed the guidelines that those with a fever and persistent coughing were more likely to have Corona. However, the alerts came in separately. If there was only a fever, or only a cough, the caregivers had to react, even though this did not have a strong predictive value. Together with my colleague Maarten, I fixed that in one weekend. Maarten worked on the backend; I wrote the frontend code. With the new cough-fever combination alert, the project was saved and later grew into a model that is currently used worldwide. Even in Africa! Making a pandemic manageable is of course a little different from simplifying a hotel booking.
Are you amazing at building web applications, and would you like to work for Luscii? Then take a look at the job opening below this blog. We are seeking someone with experience, someone who can take us through the best practices of web development and who knows how to handle changes in the code base. At Luscii, you can count on further self-development, with a budget to make that happen. The level is pretty high.
Oh yes, the office. We don’t have one anymore. Since Corona, we have all been working from home and have enjoyed it so much that we decided to close the office permanently. But if you like to work around others, we can arrange that. We have shared workspaces in Amsterdam and Utrecht. And if your home office setting is not ideal, you will receive a budget to set up your workplace the way you like it. And we do see each other regularly, but mainly just for fun. So, do you want a great job and no longer feel like commuting? Then get in touch!
Check out the job description for Senior Frontend Developer
