One year designing at QuintoAndar
Transforming the renting experience
After a few years working in a software house, I felt I needed to move on. It was a period of fast-paced evolution and I had plenty of room to grow as a professional until I got stuck trying to figure out what’s next.
That’s when I got an exciting opportunity to take on a new challenge and start working as a Product Designer at QuintoAndar. I learned a lot over the past year (plus two months, I’m a bit late) and I wanted to share a few thoughts on how QuintoAndar overcame my expectations.
Approaching unique problems
One of the things I value most working as a product designer — and made my eyes shine when I met QuintoAndar — is facing unique problems. The traditional real state market in Brazil is really complicated. And that’s where QuintoAndar acts: creating an end-to-end and smooth digital experience for people looking for their next home.
Our daily challenges include proposing solutions for key storage and handling, creating a seamless experience for property owners and tenants having a direct negotiation by themselves, and making sure we can scale the business without an overhead of costs.
Another thing I enjoy about working at QuintoAndar is how fast we can iterate and prove (or not) assumptions with data. Our approach to solving these problems is to test hypotheses by building new solutions, measuring its impact with real users, and learning from the results. We have the right tools and incentive to do just that. ✌️
Designing a design team
We have a strong, harmonic, self-managed, and supportive design team at QuintoAndar. But to be honest, it wasn’t always like that.
When I joined the company I was amazed by how clever, skillful, and talent the design team was. After all, that was one of the things that attracted me in the first place. But we had one problem: we weren’t as effective as a team. We didn’t know for sure what other designers were doing, we didn’t dedicate much time to the team, and we didn’t have efficient design management.
In startups things quickly change and we began to take actions on these problems. We started to seat closer, which helped us to communicate. We started to improve our routines, which made our work more efficient. Finally, we got a design leader, which helped people perform their best work, develop fulfilling careers and impact the organization. Nowadays, our design chapter just works, and it’s a reference through the company.
It was a year of clear development and now I feel like we have the maturity to scale our design operations. I feel confident working with my design peers and excited for what is coming next.
Evaluating career
When I was exploring companies I could join, I desired a workplace of smart, engaged, and skilled people who could help push me forward. That is only possible in an organization where building a career is a priority, people are open-minded, and receiving and giving valuable feedback is routine.
At QuintoAndar, we do regular 1 on 1 meetings with managers and sometimes peers. It’s a moment to talk about career, build harmony, and help each other become more efficient.
We also have a process of 360-degree feedback every 6 months. This method provides each employee with the opportunity to receive and give written feedback to managers and peers. The feedback is also written in a form of self-assessment. It is a valuable tool to provide each individual with insights on where they stand out and where they can improve.
All these ceremonies provided me with a ton of moments to recall career subjects, quickly reorganize what wasn’t working, and receiving the recognition that made my days great. 🙏
Embracing the company culture
I didn’t know exactly what I wanted from a company culture perspective before joining QuintoAndar. In my past work experiences that wasn’t a priority, I worked in companies that lacked culture sense and the goals were unclear, or the culture was just starting to organically being shaped.
Now I see company culture as a persona: a fictional character with a clear mission, values, standards, and expectations — a persona you can relate to.
QuintoAndar’s culture is what makes the mix of diverse people work so well together. It has a deep impact on everything we do, creates an environment where you feel free, you care about each other, you feel empowered and challenged to do your best.
I could see in just a year how the culture remains strong and clear while the company grows. I feel like my needs, values, and goals are consistent and aligned with others in the workplace, which makes me not only more productive but happier.
Wrapping up
I hope some of these thoughts help you bring new ideas about how can different people and working styles be employed to create amazing products. Now I know how meaningful to me is working with smart people, being constantly challenged and in an environment that keeps pushing me forward as a product designer.
QuintoAndar is transforming the renting experience in Brazil, and we are looking for more people to take on this challenge. If our values and the problems we’re solving seem interesting to you, check out our open positions.
Thanks for reading! Feel free to use the comments section below or just say “Hello!” on Twitter. 👋
