Emilie Paillous, Senior Software Engineer at Pennylane, on becoming an Engineer, Parenthood and Self-reflection.

How did you land your current role? Was it planned?

I arrived at Pennylane in September 2021.
Before Pennylane, I was working at Fabernovel, a web / mobile agency that I joined just after my engineering school. At the beginning I did an internship at Applidium, a mobile start up that would be a Fabernovel’s subsidiary in the future. I was developing iOS apps. I was very lucky because the team was great. I learned a lot about coding, architecture patterns, clean code. I had the feeling that this time was « the logic suite of the engineering school ».

Then the years passed, I became a Senior Developer, I started managing people, then I managed a team of 5 people as a lead developer. I worked on many different subjects for many different companies : Canal+, Grands Moulins de Paris, Blablacar, etc

And finally when I left Fabernovel, 8 years after that, I was a Technical Director, managing the R&D section.

Then, Covid went by, I was really questioning myself about what was the next step for me, I was in Paris, as a director I was not coding anymore and I was missing it. I had the feeling that I was not learning anything anymore. So I thought about joining a product company. I was contacted on LinkedIn, I met Quentin, Thierry, Tancrède and Guillaume. I had a great talk with all of them, it made me very enthusiastic about Pennylane. And that’s how I finally joined the adventure!

What are you most proud of in your career, so far?

I have a feeling that during the years at Applidium, it really helped me to build myself up. The company was really involved in teaching new comers the « good coding practices ». We used to have a very opinionated way of coding, being clean code addicts, and I have the feeling that having these strong foundations really help me today to teach and mentor other developers.

Today at Pennylane I might be very (too much?) rigorous about these practices, I spend a lot of time in reviewing people and writing long comments to help them, but I think it works and I’m convinced it is precisely how I have a good impact on the company. Before going in maternity leave, a developer joined my team, I had a call with him for a handover and he told me he was very happy to join the team when he knew I was in because I have reviewed one of his pull requests one day and my comments really helped him to be a better coder. I was really proud of this 🥺

How was maternity leave for you? How did Pennylane stay in touch and support you?

I am one of these lucky people having a job they love. So it was really hard for me to stop working because I actually like it, it makes me happy and I was scared of going in maternity leave and starting this new « mum life ». I even postponed my maternity leave to stay for 2 more weeks.

But at the end, pregnancy was tiring, my sleep was not good enough so it was the right time for me to take some rest. I watched Netflix, a lot. I read books, I cooked (I hate cooking, but I learned that it’s actually [super common] during pregnancy to do some crazy stuffs like that), I continued being on slack for a while (don’t do that, I am a slackaholic 😆), but finally most of the time I was sleeping.

And then, my baby arrived, first weeks were pretty intense of course. My husband was off so we were the three of us at home, switching between sleeping, changing diapers and covering her in kisses. I took 2 more months after my « legal maternity leave ». I really enjoyed this time. I was told that it would be difficult for me to be alone at home with my baby. It was not. It was a very sweet period where I had time to see her growing, I was going for walks with the stroller, listening to music and podcasts, trying to show her beautiful things of the world. This time made me appreciate simple things : being in the sun a little bit and reading books in the park during her naps.

I enjoyed this time so much that it was hard for me to go back to work. I was in this ambivalence that a lot of mothers know : happy to go back to work, to go back to the life we had before this extraordinary event we experimented, but also deeply sad to let my baby to someone I do not know.

First week was hard, I was wondering if I was making the right choice by coming back to work now, and of course I was not sleeping well. But I was very supported by the Pennylane team. I am working remotely so I’ve been told that I can take some rest during the day if I needed. I am still breastfeeding and I have a nanny at home so I have been able to schedule my time to be able to feed my baby during the day. I was also able to choose my squad. And everyone was very supportive when I came back.

It has been 2 months now since I came back, and now I am really enjoying this working mum life. Also, since I am breastfeeding, I started to take good care of what I am eating, I try to have a very healthy nutrition (which is actually something very new for me, I used to be a strong fast food addict 😆). I also started to do some sports. I built this fragile but efficient balance between work / sport / food / family to ensure that even if I do not sleep well, the rest is OK 💪

As a working mum what does an average workday look like for you? How is Pennylane supporting you as a new parent?

So, as mentioned I am working remotely, my husband is also working remotely, I have a nanny at home which allows me to continue breastfeeding without having to pump my milk. I am very very very lucky to be in this situation, I know it’s not common. And to maintain this situation I need to be very organized.

So here is the setup : my baby usually wakes up at 8, my husband and I wake up at the same time. I feed her, and my husband takes care of her until 9:30 when the nanny arrives. I start working around 9. When the nanny arrives we take some time to organize the day, so she knows my schedule and meetings. Around 10:30–11, my baby usually start to be hungry, I’ve schedule a 🤱 appointment in my google calendar so I try to avoid having two meetings following each other around this time. I feed my baby in my room, it takes around 10 minutes, and she usually takes a nap. She wakes up around 12, I feed her during the lunch break and the nanny takes care of her during lunch. Or sometimes when I go for lunch outside I take my baby with me so I spend some time with her. At 1:30–2 she usually starts to be hungry again so I feed her and she fall asleep for a second nap, until 3, 3:30. I feed her when she wakes up, and the nanny takes care of her until 6:30 when my husband finishes work. I usually finish around 7–7:30pm.

It happens that I have a meeting during a moment when my baby is very hungry and she can not wait. As you can see I have a strong organisation, and as a developer I do not have so many meetings so these moments are rare but it happens. In this case I apologize during the meeting that I have to leave, and I try to follow up the meeting.

Also, I am a strong fan of multitasking, I have github on my mobile so it happens that I review some PRs while breastfeeding 🤱📱#mum2.0

What do you think are the most important things working parents should know about working at Pennylane?

When you become parents, you also discover that you are actually surrounded by others parents. You are literally discovering this secret world of parenting.

For you it’s a new life, but for your colleagues it’s not and they perfectly know what kind of life you’ve got now. Being surrounded by a team of colleagues, managers, HR managers, some of which are also parents made me feel really confortable, sharing with them my difficulties and my doubts, because I knew they were able to understand. And I was also super happy to share with my colleagues this new thing : before being parents you don’t realize how much joy it is having a baby in your life, but once I became a mother I also had a movement of kindness about all my parents colleagues / friends / family, thinking of this joy they also know with their own kids. And that might be cheesy, but kindness towards others makes work a really good place to be.

Also, Pennylane attaches a great importance to have a correct working life balance. And I think it’s actually very smart, they understand that being happy in your life make you better at work 🙃 and I am convinced of that also.

What advice would you give yourself just starting out?

To trust life, to be confident in myself and to take in the opportunity I have. In my daily work, I sometimes push too much pressure on myself and have the feeling that I am not doing a great job (hello imposter syndrome 👋), I need to be more confident that it’s all going to be ok.

Also, to ask questions, not being afraid of not knowing things, to try to learn as much as possible from the best, and to always try to go outside of the comfort zone : sometimes it’s hard, but it’s like a sport, at the end, it pays off 💪