My onboarding at Cubyn

Last year, I decided to become a software engineer. Why? Because I wanted to work in an ever evolving industry and deliver creative and impactful solutions. After five months of intense coding including a bootcamp, I interviewed for a position at Cubyn, a growth partner of e-merchants, providing them with fulfilment solutions and full eCommerce platform integration.

An Efficient and Transparent Recruitment Process

I was amazed by the reactivity of all the interviewers and the speed at which decisions were made — in barely ten days, I had a screening interview, took a data analysis test, had a technical interview, interviewed with a tech manager, a product manager and a data analyst. This allowed me to get a very good grasp of the working environment and know more about the tech team.

Throughout these, I was informed of the purposes of each interview. Cubyn’s objective is to assess whether a candidate would be a good fit — there are no tricks.

I started as a junior software engineer within two weeks of my first interview! I was thrilled to join Cubyn and be part of a new adventure, in search of creativity and impact.

My first day was really tough — coming from a different background, I knew it was going to be really difficult to get up to speed but was up for it. Cubyn’s onboarding process really helped.

General Onboarding Process

Department Introductions

I had several meetings with members of each department, which taught me everyone’s role, methods and objectives.

I really appreciated being told about finances, marketing strategies, commercial targets and expansion goals: I was already part of a group of individuals working together to achieve clear objectives. During these meetings, new joiners are welcome to ask any questions.

Daily Updates

Everyday, one or two departments are in charge of updating all Cubyn employees on their endeavors and actions. In addition, daily figures regarding inbounded items and outbounded parcels are provided. This keeps everyone involved and aware of what’s happening at the company level.

Tech Onboarding Process

Agile Methodology

First, I was asked to read documentation on Cubyn’s agile delivery framework and the tech team processes.

At Cubyn, we aim at providing agile, scalable technological solutions. We are agile by using a micro-service infrastructure, which allows us to continuously develop new features in parallel, and by breaking up projects in several phases:

• discovery & solution thinking (what is the need and how to address it);
• implementation;
• review by more experience engineers and modification if necessary; and
• release (yes, even junior software engineers release code for production at Cubyn, which means everyone has an impact and is accountable).

Mentoring and Internal Support

Second, I met my “tech buddy”, a more experienced engineer at my disposal.

For someone coming from a different background, applying the agile methodology can be quite scary and difficult. It was actually OK, my buddy was always available to help on any matter, at any time. It’s a relief to know that in case of struggle, someone has your back. It made working and discovering the different technologies and services a pleasure.

Warehouse Viewing

Third, on my fifth day, I met many engineers at the warehouse. This was a great opportunity to discover and understand the end-to-end flow of goods received and shipped by Cubyn. I stepped into the shoes of warehouse operators. They showed me how to inbound, label, store, pack and ship goods. Immediately, I was able to see how operators use the products and apps engineered by the tech team and potential issues. This was of much help when I had to tackle various matters at a later stage as it gave me the necessary tools to understand the impact of my implementations.

My First Weeks at Cubyn

During the first few weeks, I focused on understanding the stack. At first, my tech buddy explained to me how to make micro-services communicate between each others. Thereafter, I was asked to complete my first task: update a service to avoid nightly restarts — within a week, my actions had impact.

All engineers are full-stack at Cubyn, which means the learning curve is hard as one needs to be proficient in front-end and back-end but it also means that one gets to work on a variety of very interesting matters, such as eCommerce platform integration, internal applications and applications for customers. I immediately understood that at Cubyn, we improve together — everyone is always ready to give a hand.

Tech Team Structure and Functioning

Feature Teams

The tech team is divided in feature teams, each of which is comprised of several software engineers and one or more product managers, and focuses on specific projects. Each feature team has daily morning meetings during which members share their achievements and next actions — it’s a very nice opportunity for product managers and engineers to align on expectations and objectives. Communication between all team members is key to better and timely delivery.

Upon completion of such projects, which usually last for multiple sprints, new teams are created to better address needs.

Sprints

Sprints are two-week periods, with clear objectives determined within each feature team by the product managers and the software engineers after thorough discussion and a discovery phase.

During the discovery phase, product managers and software engineers discuss the effort requirements and expected impact of various matters to assess their priority. Experienced members do listen to juniors and take into account their comments and thoughts, which means anyone with ambition can soon contribute to the delivery of greater products.

Bi-weekly Manager Meeting

Every two weeks, each engineer meets with his manager or feature team leader to find solutions to concerns and issues, and acknowledge achievements.

Managers and team leaders are here to help. My manager gave me very useful advice on working methodology, tools, and how to prioritize tasks. It can even lead to improvement of our general processes— after I discussed code refactoring needs with him, we agreed to mention such needs in the discovery process of new features, which allows better refactoring requirement assessment, and time and expectation management with the product team. It is now part of the process for everyone.

Weekly Engineering Call

All engineers participate in a weekly call on Monday to discuss general topics. During such meetings, anyone can speak her mind and make suggestions, whether it be about new technologies or organizational matters. Everyone’s point of view is carefully heard and taken into account.

Above and Beyond

I’ve been at Cubyn for a bit less than three months now and the amount of knowledge I have acquired since exceeds all my previous expectations as a junior software engineer. Working on projects from the early stage of the solution thinking process, closely with the product managers, to the delivery of clean and scalable code for production terrifically boosted my knowledge and impact. I wish every new software engineer were given such an opportunity and I am eager for more challenge!

We’re looking for talented and motivated individuals so if you’re interested, don’t be shy, reach out!

Have a great Thursday!