BUSINESS TRIPS
Hello there and welcome (back) to our blog! Today I want to tell you a little about our business trips, so what would you like me to start with? Adi’s warm welcome and the really exciting stories he tells? Maybe how beautiful the city of Zurich is? How cool our clients are? Or perhaps the fun we have when bar hopping after a day at the office?
Our office in Switzerland and Adi’s warm welcome
Ok, I’ll start with the office part. We have a nice cozy office where you can find Adi working. It is located in Cham, which is 20-30 minutes by train from the Zurich central train station, and if you’re lucky you can even see the Patrouille Suisse acrobatic team of the Swiss Air Force training above the surrounding fields.
We already have a tradition, every time we come to Zurich, Adi welcomes us with lunch at the oldest vegetarian restaurant in the world (from someone who loves meat, trust me, you won’t miss it). It’s really good to catch up and hear Adi’s perspective about where the company’s heading and see what we can do in order to achieve our full potential both as individuals and also as a company. About Adi’s exciting stories and jokes, well, you’ll have to find out yourself.
Going to the client’s office
We can also work from the client’s office, it’s really nice to be close to our colleagues and see them face2face, not only on the webcam and especially because we have a looot of fun together. The client I’m working with, Sunrise, has a really cool office inside an office space called the Ambassador House. Already having high expectations? Well, I can tell you you won’t be disappointed. Depending on the days we are there, we either have the sprint plannings together or the bi-weekly. The last time I was there we enjoyed our product owners’ presentations held during the bi-weekly, it was a nice experience being part of this in person.
From a more personal side, every time I go on a business trip I feel a significant boost in motivation and I develop stronger bonds with my colleagues. It’s super empowering to feel closer to the product and in the case of the client I’m working for, Sunrise, you can see the product we are developing being promoted everywhere and the people really using it (I was so excited that I even took some selfies with the banners I found on the streets).
One time we were on a business trip, and we actually had an incident in production and everything was down for an hour or so. We were just getting back from the city center and hoping to get some food when our phones started ringing like crazy. We had to jump in and fix the issue so we ordered some McDonald’s (actually, a lot, check out the pic), and saved the day! Being all together really helped to solve the problem in a really short time and in an effective way. We were staying at a really nice penthouse with an amazing view and a nice workspace so we could also work from there if necessary.
And now, the bar hopping part - the bars & pubs there are so cool, that every time I’ve been to Zurich, our colleagues were super eager to show me all of them, and how can you do that? Well, bar hopping is the only way. And as you can already imagine, this really helped build our relationships even stronger. We now have some really funny inside jokes (maybe I’ll share some of them with you), and we fondly remember the moments spent together. Actually, I’m writing this while listening to Michael Gray - The Weekend (our start-the-party song).
Activities around the city
And to give you an idea of how cool our clients are, our CTO, Tom, is a pilot!! And guess what, he took us on tour to see a small part of Switzerland.. by plane! Remember I told you about the funny (or not so funny) inside jokes? If you’ll hear my colleagues laughing about something related to me puking… Don’t believe them, it’s a trap!!
One of our tech leads showed us around Schaffausen and the beautiful waterfall of Rhine Falls which is the most powerful in Europe. One of our product owners took us to the Christmas Market (which, be careful, can quickly turn into an amazing party spot), another PO took me to Zurich Street Parade, and our cool designer and system engineer were responsible for choosing the right bars for the tour, and then our CEO makes sure we have a warm welcome at the summer and Christmas parties organized by the company. So basically, just write on Slack that you’re going to be in Zurich and be ready for some amazing experiences.
See that cool profile pic? It’s from the last Christmas Party ^^
Going through the photos again, brought back some amazing memories. We have a really good relationship with our colleagues (so good, that whenever we travel, if we are in the same place, we try to go out for a coffee together - besides the passion that we share for coding and for delivering the best products to our customers, travelling is a common hobby for us :D), and this also makes our everyday lives at work easier (and funnier).
I can’t wait for the next business trips and I’m looking forward to catching up with my colleagues and sharing more amazing moments together!
Thank you for reading!
Irina Barbos
Trying to bring a ray of sunshine while precision guess working for the development of the empire