What does a typical day in the life of a developer at tts look like?
Every day begins with a daily stand-up meeting when the most important information is distributed and we organize ourselves as a team. After that, our day is a lively mix of coding, pair programming and code reviews, not to mention analyzing and fixing defects. We also work on solutions for a whole range of internal and external requirements to help out our colleagues. Second-level support is part of what we do, too – taking care of troubleshooting and developing customer-specific integration solutions. We’re also on hand to carry out architecture reviews as and when required.
How is agility put into practice at tts?
Agility isn’t just a buzz word in our company – we work in scrums, as part of self-organizing teams, and have a two-week sprint cycle. To make sure everything runs smoothly, we work with the product owner to refine our user stories in the backlog before each sprint. What’s more, when we move from one sprint to the next, we carry out reviews, retrospectives and sprint planning for the next one to two sprints. As you can see, we’re in great shape – something that’s clear from the close collaboration we pursue with other developers, testers and product owners. We are supported in our work by an experienced scrum master and are big fans of direct face-to-face communication. What else is important to us? Good design, high code quality and enjoying our work!
How will tts help keep my expertise and the technologies I’m using up to date?
We introduce new technologies on a regular basis at tts and the right further training can be provided on request at any time. Code reviews and pair programming help to foster collaboration and communication, and you can let off steam in our tt Lab, where there is plenty of freedom for experimental projects. Knowledge transfer is a big deal in our company and is underpinned by inter-departmental poster sessions and workshops that are held both within and between teams. We also stage quarterly Dev Days, which give us developers the ideal opportunity to do some serious networking and knowledge-sharing.
What exactly does work in the Software department involve?
Our Software department works with a huge code base and an extensive variety of different technologies, programming languages and developer tools – there’s no chance of being bored. We maintain an open culture based around discussion and feedback, flat hierarchies and direct channels of communication. Our unique working atmosphere and team spirit are very important to us and we understand the value of trust-based hours and the opportunity to work from home. We are particularly proud that around 25 bright minds are behind our software – which is used by over five million people day in, day out. Last but not least, we have a lot of our most productive discussions over foosball, darts or after-work drinks.