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15 Sep 2022 | 4 min read
Hiya everyone!!
I’m Alessandro Gallo and I have been working as a Backend Developer in 2hire since June 2020. I have lived in Rome since 2015 while studying computer engineering.
I started working quite early, in 2017, before graduating with my bachelor’s degree, and was eager to put into practice everything I studied and assimilated during my years of learning, and apply it in a real work context.
My first job was in a consultancy company, I had the idea of gradually tackling a series of different projects. It was certainly an experience that both formed and taught me a lot, but in 3 years I only managed to work for one client in the telco market… Too dull for a professional career that just started.
Even with my previous employment I was used to remote working, I never experienced office life, I did not live the daily activities, spend time with colleagues, or enjoy face-to-face interaction. But then…
I went through a waiting period, typical of any young person looking for a new job. I was jumping from interview to interview in search of something that struck me, that would set off a spark… but nothing caught my attention, and I certainly didn’t want to settle.
Of course, I should specify that it was also early 2020, and as you can imagine, switching jobs during a pandemic is not an easy process!
After about 10 different interviews, a recruiting company called me to propose a fresh new opportunity in a startup (yep, that was 2hire!).
It always fascinated me to participate in the early stages of building a company, to help shape something new is exciting for me. So I gladly agreed to participate in the interview.
The recruiting process went smoothly, the technical interview part was challenging and fun at the same time, which rarely happens to me: usually, I am quite nervous during interviews.
Due to this positive impact on the process carried out by 2hire, it did not take long for my current team leader Angelo Di Pilla to convince me to join the 2hire team.
My first impression of the 2hire values (both the company one and the devs team I am part of) and the experience I gathered from them was very good. I immediately felt an active part of the company, happy to have started this new journey.
I joined in June 2020, hoping that the pandemic situation in Italy would be better so that I could start in the office and bond with the team. The first few days in the office flew by, I was barraged with a thousand pieces of information about the team, the products, and the methodology.
❓Did you know that 2hire has a corporate Wiki❓📚
It is the company encyclopedia, containing details of 2hire’s history, who is part of it, the ecosystem of services it offers, and of course who uses it… our customers!
Let’s just say that to understand what environment you have landed in, the wiki is what you need!
After understanding my surroundings (shout out to the 2hire team for the fireball of information when I was the new kid on the block!) I immediately started helping the technical team develop new features for our technology.
In October 2020, the pandemic worsened again, so I kindly asked to start working from home until I felt safe being with others.
During the first lockdown, I had to stay alone in my house in Rome, that’s when remote working started to be part of my experience in 2hire. I was stuck and could not reach my parents in Foggia, my hometown. That’s why I made the decision to switch to remote working before it was too late again and I risked being stuck once again. It was during the pandemic that I discovered some of the health problems that make me more vulnerable to the after-effects of Covid-19.
Knowing all this, I decided to make remote working both an asset and an opportunity to work even better.
Remote working in 2hire certainly doesn’t mean being alone or not being involved in the company news and the team dynamics… Actually, way far from this!
From day one, we have been using a range of tools to keep in touch: from Discord for team voice chats, which is useful for co-operating on a task, to Zoom for team meetings, retrospectives, and gatherings with the rest of the 2hire team.
Oh, of course, let’s not forget the recent introduction of code-sharing tools, which have exponentially improved our productivity during pair programming sessions📈
Do you remember the company news I mentioned earlier? 📢
Every Monday morning we can’t miss the traditional meeting with the whole company, where we share the important news of the previous week, the highlights of the current week, and also fun moments where we can chat freely about any topic.
So many little things that make a difference, zeroing in on the feeling of distance from the guys in the office.
I am honestly impressed by how much my productivity improved since I am working fully remotely.
Time optimization is one of the core benefits I noticed when switching to the remote worker’s life. Things like traveling to the office by public transportation made me lose a lot of time during the day. I used to live a bit far away from the 2hire office, so I always had to calculate time efficiently (transport disruptions included), to arrive on time.
📑 Time investment made everything better ✅
When I switched to remote working, I started spending the gained time studying and getting better with the technologies we used to deal with in 2hire.
I was also able to use my spare time better: instead of moving around the city by public transport to reach my apartment, I focused on a side project that I always postponed because of the obvious lack of time and also the necessary knowledge required.
I have always been into mobile apps, they are the reason I first got interested in IT and became a developer.
My other passion is cooking (and eating… of course😋). That’s why I decided to invest my spare time in developing a mobile app called FoodStamps. FoodStamps addresses the problem of food waste at home to inspire people on how to correctly use ingredients, cook recipes without any leftovers, and how to organize purchases to avoid excessive stocks.
I am very grateful for the opportunity I had, I don’t think I would have been able to achieve this without the time optimization by working remotely.
Of course, there are always two sides of a coin. I can’t always be in the office when celebrations take place (but still the Zoom link to be there virtually never fails!), nevertheless, the company retreats make up for some of these shortcomings.
Having the opportunity to spend multiple days together, between workshops and leisure activities, helps you feel constantly part of something beautiful, innovative, and inclusive, and yes, I can say that I found all of this by joining 2hire.
Backend Developer at 2hire
I like playing basketball, video games, and reading about new technologies. I also love to develop personal projects in my free time to acquire new skills in the IT world.
