What really makes a great place to work?
Showpad recently reached the 200-employee mark on its Product and Engineering team. As a nice moment to reflect, we asked our team what drives them.
To find out, Cathleen Heimberg and Koen Bogaert reached out to Marta, one of our new UX researchers, and Klaas Cuvelier, a Principal Engineer who’s been working with Showpad for over ten years.
Here’s what they had to say about career growth, personal motivations, and the impact of remote working. Hot topic warning: we weren’t ready for the quote “computers have no future,” are you?
What did you want to be when you grew up?
MARTA: Even when I switched from my ambition to become an ornithologist to an archeologist working in Egypt, the one thing that remained constant was that I wanted to travel. A lot. See the world, meet new people.
National Geographic was my window to the world. From it, I got the idea that I could become a scientific Indiana Jones. Believe it or not, but UX is a bit like that. It’s about discovering new exciting things and understanding people, so I chose to study sociology. That gave me an opportunity to learn about what influences people’s behaviour and thinking. As an explorer I’m always seeking new knowledge.
Please never mention data loss in front of my family
— Klaas Cuvelier
KLAAS: When I was eight years old, my dad asked me to write down three jobs I’d like to do later in my life. All my friends wanted to be astronauts, but I wanted to be a mechanic, just like my dad. Since I loved big machines as a child, my second dream job was to be a truck driver. And my third dream job was to do “something with computers”.
My dad looked at the list, questioned the truck driver’s job, and shook his head at the computer part as “there’s no future in computers”. So it was written in the stars that I’d become a mechanic.
But while the hands-on aspect of my father’s job as a mechanic appealed to me, I also had an uncle who was a programmer. I watched my uncle write code when I was ten years old, and he taught me how to program.
When I got hold of our home computer, I discovered the terminal and wrote my own program to make the computer speaker make wave sounds in an endless loop, much to the agony of my family. And I broke every home computer we had. Trying to partition hard drives to run Linux next to my dad’s Windows didn’t always work. Please never mention data loss in front of my family.
In high school, I had to decide whether to pursue a hands-on mechanical education or a broader education. Though I loved working with my hands more than studying, I discovered my passion for solving problems through coding. Perhaps I wanted to prove my dad wrong about computers. Today, he’s proud of what I’m doing now. Every time we get news about Showpad’s investment rounds, he lets the whole family know.
From childhood dreams to your daily reality, what’s the core element that makes you love your current job?
MARTA: For me, everything is about curiosity. As we grow older, it’s sometimes the first thing we give up. For me, learning never stops. Also, you should never see technology as disconnected from people. Change always comes through people. Every day I’m curious about how they function and what makes them tick, as they’re the catalyst for progress. This curiosity is not only a skill for a researcher. Everyone should keep an open mind.
KLAAS: I enjoy solving problems, and for Showpad, there’s a continuous push to improve our product. Every morning, I look forward to what I will accomplish, and that energizes me. Towards the end of the day, it’s also rewarding to post in the Slack engineering channel, “this is what we solved today and how it will make your life easier.”
Jumping to your career at Showpad. How did you discover Showpad?
MARTA: At my previous job, I was discussing my personal growth path with a colleague, and she said I should take a look at a company called Showpad. She learned about Showpad from a friend, who described Showpad as having an open culture and being flexible. My hope was to work with people with the right mindset, as UX is a vast topic spanning many functions in the organization.
Marta, your position was new to Showpad. How did the organization react to you?
MARTA: I began with a plan that motivates the people around me. The ability to build a learning culture with all stakeholders is very rewarding but it’s a long process, not always easy. And to get people on board, you need to start small, but still set big goals for the future.
My opinion is that everyone in their day-to-day job needs a minimal level of UX skills. In the overall quality and impact of the user journey, UX is much more consistent when it’s top of mind in all functions. The vision was well received within the company, and I’m pleased that I get to contribute to the empowerment of my coworkers.
What helps is the fact that many Showpad employees are curious, open, and supportive. And thanks to very honest conversations before I started, I knew what was waiting for me. It made me think of my own onboarding in terms of knowledge and how I could come up with a workable plan for my project.
And you, Klaas, how did your Showpad journey start?
KLAAS: I applied for a job at our founder’s previous company, specializing in mobile apps. However, they mentioned a little side project called Showpad, which was based on a long-term vision and not the type of project-based work I was seeking. We decided that I would start working on the new Showpad product for a few months, then move to stand-alone apps.
As the Showpad product matured, I realized at some point that project build apps have short lifecycles without the opportunity to improve them further. Either the project is obsolete, or you’ve spent the budget. Showpad was the opposite. I started in 2012 as the first engineer on the payroll, and today I’m still improving the product.
One thing that’s changed in the last few years is the impact of remote working. How did you cope with that?
MARTA: I’m like the hipster of remote work. I’ve been working remotely for years. I went through the “get out of your pyjamas and get to work” phase years ago. Though it’s harder to establish relationships, build trust, and make deeper connections remotely. But the curiosity that drives me, even in remote settings, makes people feel that you care about them. So, for me, it’s not about the tools; it’s about understanding what people are struggling with.
KLAAS: The biggest challenge I faced was a lack of boundaries. My computer was sitting in my bedroom while my wife was occupying the living room, and as a result, I started to work unhealthily long hours.
So I had to set myself some rules for disconnecting from work. Putting on my running shoes, and getting out was and is still my favourite cure. Once we were allowed to go to the office, I went one day a week to socialize at the coffee machine, meet people, and share ideas. That one day kept me energized. And because we went through it as a whole company, I found it inspiring that our CEO talked about how he was coping with the lockdown and how meditation helps him.
Back to your day jobs. What makes you happy at the end of the day?
MARTA: For me, success manifests itself whenever someone initiates research or dives deep into UX. While I am here to help them in every way I can, they are the biggest driving force. Of course, it doesn’t happen overnight, but the fact that people value UX more and more every day is the cherry on top of my daily job.
KLAAS: I’m lucky I can work on broader projects, read more, and tackle bigger problems. However, small improvements to a pipeline can immediately impact engineers.
Also, product enhancements affect all our customers. The moment we deploy updates, millions of end-users benefit immediately. Making a customer’s life easier is one thing, but doing it at the scale of the Showpad user base still blows my mind.
Showpad also celebrates and recognizes its employees. We have a weekly wrap-up on Fridays on what everyone’s been working on. Highly entertaining, thanks to the funniest talk show host ever, but most of all I enjoy seeing how they solve all the problems. Seeing the impact of all this on our customers is encouraging and inspirational.
Marta, you’ve worked with a lot of companies. What’s your perception of diversity at Showpad?
MARTA: For many companies, diversity is just a superficial checkbox of cultures and backgrounds. But for me, diversity is an attitude of openness. In my research, I have also found that the more perspectives one can give to people’s problems, the more effective the results. I see Showpad’s growth as an opportunity to meet more colleagues from different backgrounds.
Diversity is an attitude of openness
— Marta
What about you, Klaas, with your ten years of Showpad experience?
KLAAS: As a company, we’re putting a lot of effort into creating a healthy mix of people and making everyone feel welcome. Stats don’t lie, of course, and we continue to move toward a more representative balance in engineering and leadership.
What’s the best advice you’ve ever received?
MARTA: I keep repeating to myself — be true to yourself.
KLAAS: Don’t waste your energy on things you can’t change. It’s also the best advice I ever got on sleep quality. There’s no point in pondering all night about something you can’t resolve. The first thing you should ask yourself is if I can fix or do something about it. A good example is the lockdown period. Even though I didn’t like working from home all the time, I knew I couldn’t change it. Acceptance is really important here. Failure is the same. If you think that failure is the end, your timeline is too short.
And what advice would you give to new joiners?
MARTA: I know it sounds repetitive, but be curious. That’s my advice. Never be afraid to ask questions. Change starts with the courage to look at things with a curious mind and remove assumptions.
KLAAS: I agree with Marta and, on top of that, don’t be afraid to speak up. Diverse minds and opinions make for better products. There is no reason to repeat something you can do better; sometimes, trying to fit in works against you. Tell us how we can improve and that will benefit both our customers and us in the long run.
Let’s end on a lighter note. What would you choose if it was possible to have an endless supply of one thing?
MARTA: That’d be coffee.
KLAAS: Also coffee. Or running shoes, my wife is always making fun of my shoe buying sprees.
Thank you both for being open and inspirational. This blog is a good resource for readers who want to know more about Showpad. If you’d like to work with Marta and Klaas, check out our open positions here.
