Sandra works as a Scrum master and MuleSoft developer at Redpill Linpro in Stockholm. I met up with Sandra to talk about her development journey; how she has been advancing in her role and how she went from a full-stack developer student to a combined integration developer/Scrum master role in only three years. All in all, Sandra feels there is no end to her learning, there are always new areas to be trained in – whether it is within her own field, or during the time when she was curious to change tech-stack. Sandra’s development is supported by both the manager and the organization, making the development opportunities endless, which is one reason she is happy to stay at Redpill Linpro. "It just felt perfect," says Sandra.

Hi Sandra! Can you start by telling us why you started working at Redpill Linpro?

Hey! I came in contact with Redpill Linpro during my final year at university and it sounded like a company that works with fun technologies and the company's values seemed to align with my own. So I went on to the interview and then everything was confirmed. It's a company with a family feel, you get to be who you are, we have a lot of fun in the office, and it was noticeable as soon as I entered for the interview - there was laughter, and everyone was having fun.

When I first came into contact with Redpill Linpro, I was about to graduate and it was very important to me to be at a company that invests in competence development and not just throw someone into an assignment and expect to perform from day one. My studies was within a different field from what I started working with, which was really scary at first. But I received both training and mentors so I could learn in my own pace. It just felt perfect.

What trainings did you take?

I started with a one-week course in MuleSoft development and studied for certification to get my first assignment - it was a great course. Once I got out on the assignment, I felt that I could actually start doing something straight away and not just sit and look over someone's shoulder - so that was great! And within the team, I immediately had a mentor to back me up so I could ask all the stupid questions 1000 times until I actually understood, so it was a really good start.

Sounds great! Have you participated in more courses?

Yes, after the first MuleSoft course, I took some continuation courses to be able to take certification level 2. I have also taken a course in API design with best practices. In addition, I have taken other courses that have nothing to do with MuleSoft to increase my understanding of different technologies. I'm still fairly new to the industry and I want to keep up with the tech talks. So I've been reading about CI/CD, Kubernetes, Java, and all sorts of stuff that we do here at Redpill Linpro, it's been great fun.

Last year I also took a scrum master course via Redpill Linpro because I wanted to have a combined role: both developer and scrum master. My manager Karin thought it was a great idea and immediately signed me up for a course that led to certification. Today I work as a scrum master at 30% and developer at 70%.

Well done! What advantages do you see in Redpill Linpro investing so much in training its employees?

On the one hand, you increase the quality of the work, but it also increases the chances of staying in the company: I have never felt that I stop my development, there is always something new to learn.

How do you experience the support from your manager – regarding your development?

It’s really good. I have felt incredibly supported in these processes. And it's not just from my manager but from other managers and from our tech leads too. At one point, I was thinking about changing field to Java development, and everyone was so committed and helped me find good courses and materials, so the commitment is great throughout the organization.

Happy to hear that! How would you rate the company's total investment in employee development and training?

I would say it’s at a very high level. When I talk to friends and colleagues in the industry, they usually comment that I get to attend so many trainings and courses, they say it seems like a lot of fun and that we seem to have so much fun at our competence evenings. So I would say that Redpill Linpro is staying at a high level when compared to many other companies.

Do you feel that Redpill Linpro has lived up to the expectations you had before you started the job?

Yes, I would probably say that and even more. I am so incredibly satisfied with what I have been taught and I can't imagine anything better.

That sounds great, is there anything that you feel is missing in the organization?

Not really missing, but rather fun stuff that I want to do more of. Like these competence groups we have, that’s something we could have more of, brainstorming events or larger group presentations perhaps. Because we have our brown-bag lunches with tech talks, which is great. It would have been great fun with more workshops, like we do at our conferences, as I said – we do a lot of fun things that I want to do more of.

Thank you so much, Sandra for your time and everything you do for us at Redpill Linpro!