Checking in with Simon Wienecke — rebuy Frontend Engineer
Simon has been part of the rebuy team for five months, and during this relatively short time, he has already made a significant impact. As a frontend engineer, his responsibilities include maintaining the customer-to-business part of the website, developing new features, and actively sharing knowledge with his colleagues. We had the privilege of spending a few minutes with him to find out what he likes about rebuy!
Q: What have you been working on during your Try-days?
A: I like to work on things that make the life of developers easier. For example, I spent my last try days implementing live reloading for our custom build process. This brings a nice quality-of-life feature that one has come to expect in web development to anyone working on the website.
Q: What do you enjoy most about Try-day?
A: That I have the freedom to do pretty much anything I like. Many try days are used to reduce technical debt, update dependencies, improve performance and so on. Engineers are trusted to know best where some work is needed. This way doesn’t need to have as many “planned” efforts to improve things.
Q: Do you have any plans on future projects you would like to try out during the next Try-days? Or trying out new tech during this time?
A: I would like to learn a new programming language, like Golang, or do a deep dive into the type system of TypeScript.
Q: What attracted you to join the company and the tech team? What sets it apart from other organizations?
A: The vibe in all the interviews was super friendly and open. That was a big difference from the other interviews. Also, the sheer tech knowledge you can find at rebuy: My main motivation to find a new job was to grow, and at rebuy I can definitely do that. Lastly, I have the feeling of working at doing something useful — sustainability and circularity are some of the most important topics of our time.
Q: Do you ever work from the office? If so, what do you enjoy most about the office environment?
A: I work most days in the office. I like the environment: It’s light, open, and has plants. Also, it’s nice to have lunch with my team.
Q: How would you describe the team dynamics and collaboration within the tech team? How do you ensure effective communication and teamwork?
A: All communication (e.g. questions, polls, etc.) happens in open Slack channels. This way, everyone can weigh in, and we have a way of sharing knowledge. That is very efficient.
Q: What technologies or programming languages are commonly used within the team? Are there any emerging trends or tools that you find exciting or important?
A: Generally we use PHP on the backend and TypeScript on the frontend. But we also have smaller projects in Go and Java.
Q: Can you share any specific examples of how your team contributes to innovation within the company? How do you/rebuy encourage and support experimentation and creativity?
A: As a customer-facing team, our work is centered on user experience. We try to make it as easy as possible for our customers to live more sustainably. In many iterations, we do feel small, but they add up. For example, I worked on a feature to show the logos of all smartphone brands at the beginning of the smartphone selling flow. This helps our users find their model. As for experimentation and creativity, I think the try-day is as good as it can get.
Q: What do you enjoy most about working with your colleagues and being part of this tech team? How does the team contribute to your personal and professional growth?
A: There are many opportunities to learn and colleagues even approach you, if they think they found a good one. Everyone is super friendly and approachable. There are no stupid questions.
Q: Are there any specific initiatives or programs within the tech team that you would like to highlight? For example, mentoring programs, knowledge-sharing sessions, or community involvement.
A: Rebuy recently hosted several tech meetups. I think that is a great contribution to the local developer community.
Q: How do you contribute to sustainability?
A: I buy most of the things second-hand, and I like to repair electronics myself.
Simon has been in the rebuy lime light since the day he started, from opening tech talks to getting behind the mic at our Spring Party, Simon is a man of many talents, and we can’t wait to see how he grows with rebuy. As always, it’s been nothing but a pleasure picking the brains of our fellow techies!
