Meet the Platform team

Hey 👋 I’m Tiago Mota, a backend engineer on the Platform team, and I’d like to provide some insight into what it’s like to work on this fantastic team.

The team

The core goal of our team is to address the non-functional requirements of our backend and front-end systems. We leverage our diverse skills to work on projects with a core focus on CI/CD and developer experience. These projects often involve implementing various automations across different pipeline stages. For instance, we’ve automated processes such as generating change logs, performing protobuf linting, and sending notifications about the builds via Slack.

In addition to our CI/CD work, we’re also involved in projects related to enhancing security and efficiency. We’ve implemented OIDC authenticated calls, ensuring secure interactions when using our internal tooling to directly interact with the system.

Furthermore, we are actively engaged in advancing our technology stack. A recent project involved migrating our shared libraries from Cats Effect 2 to Cats Effect 3, contributing to the ongoing evolution of our technology foundation. Another one involved research into how we will improve our Event Sourcing scalability. Currently, we are working on replacing some of the Akka libraries we use with alternatives that are closer to our stack (fs2) or with more permissive licenses (Pekko).

Our collaborative approach extends to partnering with the infrastructure team, with whom we share projects due to our close working relationship.

Currently, our team consists of four backend engineers, two mobile engineers, one security engineer, and one engineering manager, spread across six countries.

Communication

SwissBorg is a remote-first company with a strong focus on open communication and collaboration. While every squad has the freedom to form their way of working, we default to asynchronous communication with a single synchronous touchpoint held every week. This is our time to socialize, share jokes, stories, and showcase what we’re working on to the rest of the team.

Depending on the nature of the work being carried out at a given time, ad-hoc meetings may arise, but it’s up to the involved parties to arrange them as needed.

Backlog Management

Every new piece of work is added as a task to our backlog, regardless of its size or scope.

Typically, new items stem from business requirements, suggestions from engineers in other squads, or even ideas from engineers within our team when we identify opportunities for improvement. Some of those ideas are shared with us on a bi-weekly backend engineering touchpoint meeting we host, where all the backend engineers are free to join if they are available.

The prioritization of work involves the input of the more senior team members, in collaboration with our engineering manager and CTO.

Our Work Process

Each engineer on our team is assigned one or more tasks. This assignment entails taking ownership of the task from start to completion and deployment in production. Occasionally, tasks may involve a research and development (R&D) component, where the implementation path isn’t immediately clear. In such cases, the task owner is expected to seek assistance from other engineers within the team or the company, conduct research on new topics, and propose potential solutions.

Moreover, you are granted the autonomy necessary to feel that your contributions hold meaning for the team and contribute to the overall success of the company. Depending on your eagerness to learn new concepts, you can delve into entirely new areas and gain substantial knowledge along the way. The blameless culture within the team (and the entire engineering department) significantly enhances our confidence to share thoughts and ideas, ultimately enabling us to perform at our very best.

What Makes Us Special

The Platform team sets itself apart from the other engineering teams at SwissBorg. This differentiation lies in the fact that our primary users are our fellow engineers. Moreover, our work backlog is shaped by their requirements for enhancing their own job capabilities.

Consequently, our tasks often fall under the “engineering-led” category, with minimal involvement from product management. This situation necessitates a pragmatic approach to determine what we can deliver and how we will execute it. In a way, we sometimes need to become product owners ourselves. As a result, our efforts are dedicated to delivering value to fellow engineers. We derive immense satisfaction from seeing them integrate our solutions into their daily workflows.

And… that’s a wrap! Being a member of this team is an immensely rewarding experience, and I’m truly delighted to be a part of it.