Zypp & Boyd: Looking back at year one

What motivated you to join Zypp?

Having worked many years at a large corporation, I mostly applied my technical skills in large-scale, multi-team software projects. I learned a lot, however, I always felt something was missing: a motivated team to work with, clients that are happy with deliveries, and the feeling of making a difference.

Therefore, I was looking for a company with a strong office culture, where you can make direct impact from day one, and where there are many opportunities to learn and grow. At Zypp, I found exactly that.

What does a typical workday look like for you?

I usually come in around 9 and get a cup of coffee, before reading my emails and making a plan of what to work on that day. Don’t worry if that sounds boring, because often something comes up mid-day that changes my plans! Some days are more planning focused, both with clients and with colleagues, and other days I can spend most of my time developing or reviewing new features. I try to plan my office days and work-from-home around this.

At the office we always get and have lunch together, and afterwards we play a quick Bandle - guess the song! At the end of the day, I update my tasks and share progress with my colleagues.

How would you describe working at Zypp?

Zypp has a very nice office culture! Most people work from the office for the majority of the week, which creates a nice vibe and makes it easy and fun to work together. Our mindset is very much: “Your problem is my problem.” People are helping each other all the time.

In terms of projects, you get a lot of responsibility and the opportunity to make direct impact. What we build is actively and daily used by our clients. This means that I have to be on top of things, but also that I can make our clients happy when I deploy new features.

Lastly, Zypp offers a great work-life balance. There is a strong drive to deliver good work, but also enough flexibility and trust to manage your time in a healthy way. There is plenty of room for personal development, and I have already learned a lot from my colleagues.

Can you share a challenge you have faced in your role and how you overcame it?

What is new for me at Zypp is working on live applications that are actively used by clients. This means that when something is not working as intended, it can lead to some difficult conversations.

For me, this was challenging, because it made me realise how important it is to test carefully and be critical of your own work. I also learned that things will not always be perfect right away, and that it is important to manage expectations when communicating with clients.

Are there any specific projects or accomplishments that you are particularly proud of?

I am quite proud of the recommendation system that we built for a recruitment company. In essence, it matches potential employees with jobs, taking into account characteristics and historic behaviour. The system is quite complex, yet easy to understand for our client, and it runs quite fast. As a data scientist, it is always a dream to see your theoretical model deployed in production, performing well and adding value.

What advice would you give to someone considering a career at Zypp?

If you are eager to learn and want to build applications from start to finish, Zypp is a great place to do that. You get a lot of responsibility, so it is important that you like taking initiative, but there is always someone to help you. It is very rewarding to deliver real applications that clients genuinely appreciate.

For me, Zypp turned out to be exactly the place I was looking for: a place where I can keep learning, work with motivated people, and actually see the impact of what I build.