My first months as a software engineer at Plated
It has been 5 months now since I started working for Plated as a software engineer and time has been running really fast! I would love to share this experience for potential new hires to know what they can expect if they decide to work for Plated.
Interview process
During the interview process, everyone I talked with was passionate and seemed to love their job. A question that I like to ask during job interviews is “How do you like working here?”; at Plated, the answers were all positive with various good reasons: the great people working here, the work/life balance, the mission of the company…
Overall, I had a great feeling while interacting with people at Plated and the positive, family-like ambiance I could feel during the on-site interview was amazing. When I left the Plated office that day, I was full of excitement and was looking forward to getting feedback on my interviews.
First weeks at Plated
I was lucky enough to get an offer and started working here in October 2018 on the Culinary Tools team. My team is the one who builds and maintains tools used by the Culinary team, quite the core of the company! Everyone was really welcoming and integrating myself in the group was very easy. The first day felt like Christmas as I was unpacking my welcome box with a few Plated branded items.
The first two weeks or so were very meeting heavy because there was a lot to learn, including HR related concerns, and I was getting back home really tired. The information delivered during those meetings is quite essential though; it is a necessary step to take and the following weeks have been more quiet since then.
Every engineer gets some time to ramp up during their first weeks at Plated, making it easier to get to know the application and start contributing at their own pace with no pressure. The Toolbox application that is maintained by the Tools team is quite complex and complete. However, there is still a lot of room for improvement and challenges, which makes the job really interesting.
New hires get to discover how Plated works by visiting a fulfillment center and briefly shadowing a customer experience associate. It really helps making concrete links between the application code and the actual needs of Plated, and it is great to keep that in mind while working!
The best perk when working at Plated is receiving two Plated boxes of two servings every week: this is literally applying the “Eat your own dog food” principle, except that it is not dog food but excellent recipes with high quality ingredients!
Moving forward
It does not feel like it has been months since my first day here. I am passionate about my work and I get to learn new things everyday: this really matters in the world of software engineering, where everything moves so fast! We make a good effort to ensure the technologies we use are up to date, not only so the application does not get deprecated, but also so your knowledge as a software engineer doesn’t get outdated.
The code review and UAT process on my team is seamlessly robust. Every piece of code that gets shipped is reviewed and everyone here loves nitpicking on code. As a software engineer here, you always get a chance to defend your opinions but you also must be able to know when you are wrong and to take the steps to make it right when it happens. Once code review is complete, the changes go in UAT where the product manager reviews them from a user perspective. All this ensures the great quality of the code that goes in production, often catching bugs before they ever go live.
There are many opportunities to get your voice heard at Plated: every 2-week sprint includes backlog review, sprint planning and retrospective meetings, where everyone has a word to say. Also, weekly one-on-ones with your direct manager make it easy to talk about any bummer you might have or any idea on top of your head that you want to share.
Last but not least, Plated offers a great work/life balance. I have always been uncomfortable asking for time off in the past but am now feeling confident asking for it. More importantly, when I get back home, I do not have to think about work and I can fully appreciate my family time.
If you are a great software engineer who loves food, having fun and being perpetually learning in a great atmosphere, I would definitely recommend that you check out the job offers at Plated!
