30 June 2022 | 3 min read
Hi y’all!
I am Matteo Scarpello and I have been working as a Backend Developer in 2hire since January 2021. From day 0 I worked remotely from my hometown, Chieti.
Even with my previous employment, I never experienced office life, I did not live the daily activities, spend time with colleagues, or enjoy face-to-face interaction. But then…
Once I got the job, the onboarding process was very cool and well structured.
Firstly, a “buddy” was assigned to me, Emanuele Loreti, 2hire’s Customer Support Specialist, who gradually introduced me to a member of each team.
Then 2hire’s Head of Backend Development, Angelo Di Pilla, introduced me to a more technical onboarding process.
This technical onboarding was made in order to align with the rest of the tech team; and since we have embraced the Agile methodology, the onboarding has become even smoother, in less than two weeks a new developer is able to contribute independently to the project.
Finally, I also had a meeting with Filippo Agostino and Elisabetta Mari, our CEO, and COO, who gave me an overview of the company, a detailed 2hire background, and a roadmap of the progress made so far.
I immediately felt surrounded by a very cool atmosphere, supported by all the team.
I clearly remember my first visit to the office in Rome, just two weeks after my recruitment. At the end of January, I was invited to the office for my official presentation to the 2hire team. I was a bit scared and shy. It felt weird to finally realize I was no longer an all-remote worker but a hybrid figure, I finally had the opportunity to enjoy an in-person space, surrounded by so many different stimuli.
Once I got there, I experienced on hand the ambient, the people, and the mentality of helping each other that characterize 2hire. In a nutshell, I can easily say that one week was more than enough to realize that I would have wanted to move to Rome and experience office life on a daily basis.
Remote Working is definitely comfortable and cheap, why would you want to change this?
Well…There are several reasons.
When working remotely you have nothing to worry about in the morning, no waking up hours in advance to get ready and travel a route, perhaps stuck in traffic that will make you worry about being late for the office. So, it can be very cool if you are a logical person fan of task optimization like me!
But, there is a big BUT.
From my personal experience, at home, I definitely felt more alone. There, I had a time when I spent several days without even knowing the weather outside. And just to be clear, I am not a metheoropathic person, but if there is something I am sure of, it is that as comfortable as smart working is, I love being surrounded by people (even with the bad weather!).
Ok, that’s a legitimate thought.
The moment I found myself, by my own choice, deciding between working at home or outside, I said to myself that if I wanted to move from home it made more sense to simply join the team in Rome. At 2hire I always had the possibility to choose, but for me, it wouldn’t have made sense to keep working remotely, and simply change location.
The devs room in the office is called “Open space”. The cool thing about every room in the office is that if you want to exchange a feeling, if you have a doubt, or simply want to “go with the flow” and know more about everyone’s status (not only about devs 👀), you just have to speak up!
For me it was a natural step: if I wanted all of this, daily, I had to work in the office.
In January 2022, after a year of working remotely at 2hire, my moment arrived and I finally moved to Rome!
So far, what I can say is that it was (and still is) a great decision for my personal growth and my career. Here at the office, I feel like I am more actively participating in the workflow. Thanks to the proximity not only to the Tech Team, to which I belong, but also to the Business Team, I am also more up-to-date on the daily progress of our prospects and customers, as well as the growth possibilities that our company is working on.
In-person it is also easier for me to come up with interesting ideas and proposals. The latest proposal we implemented, for example, was to involve Cosimo Calciano, Business Developer at 2hire (not just a colleague but also long time friend from the University days) to present 2hire to Svoltastudenti, a big students association of Politecnico di Milano, of which we were both members when we studied engineering there.
There was a triple objective in proposing this mission:
The opportunity to bring one’s own ideas to the table and put them into action is an incredible opportunity that 2hire gave me, and that gives to everybody on the team.
I am glad I embraced this opportunity and made it a reality. I think that there is nothing better than being appreciated for who you really are, especially in the work you carry out daily.
Backend Developer at 2hire
I’m a logical person fan of time optimisation and organization. Not the first Matteo in the team, you can call me Chopper if you prefer (like the doctor reindeer).