Being a leader at ANIXE – meet two perspectives

We spoke with Piotr Team Leader of the Frontend team and Marcin, who works as a principal and manages four teams that program in RUST and C# at ANIXE about their teams and daily challenges at work.

Piotr, tell us – what makes your team unique?

Piotr: We do many exciting but, at the same time, complicated things. We work in a problematic domain, which requires a lot of commitments from the developer, but, I enjoy such challenges. What are we creating? These are not typical webpages or short applications.

We develop comprehensive and complex solutions for clients from the tourist industry, and then we develop this product for years. That is why it is so crucial that the written code is both the best and reliable. Answering the question: working in my team is demanding, engaging, and developing. It allows us to use new technologies and requires perfect quality code from developers. It requires both concentration and some understanding of the tourism industry.

What does it mean to be a leader to you?

Piotr: In the areas I cover, I approach this with empathy. I am a demanding but supportive leader. I believe that development is essential because then our product becomes even better as its compatibility increases. Being a Team Leader also motivates me to deepen my knowledge to share it with my team and achieve our goals together. The work of a leader is an excellent path for continuous self-improvement.

How does the communication between developers and clients look like?

Piotr: Developers are somewhat isolated from the client for whom we work. The owner of the product conducts most of the ongoing communication and arrangements. Developers are involved in the project only after the collection of all business guidelines.

Are there any profiles that wouldn’t match with your team?

Piotr: Capable but lazy. Working in ANIXE requires commitment; you must remember that the domain is not simple; it requires knowledge that you acquire over the years. In the first months of employment of a new developer, it is known that his role is limited to one product and then expands over time. You have to reckon with the fact that the tourism industry is a dynamic one.

That is why it is essential to be flexible and open to changes. It is not a surprise that the customer expects us to deliver the product in a given time, and the end-users expect that the application will be fast and efficient enough not to want to use the competition. A person who is not self-sustaining can also have difficulties with working in this team as with the current amount of work, you need to take responsibility for your code. Besides, I note here that we write tests with developers. I like working with capable and responsible people.

Marcin, you manage a very unique programming team because you work in RUST. Why did you choose this language?

Marcin: We started using RUST, because at ANIXE we are always looking for new solutions, thanks to which we are able to improve our software. Our clients are constantly setting new requirements for us and expect better, faster and above all reliable software. RUST helps us to achieve this.

It requires a completely different approach to programming. It forces the programmer to write every piece of code not only in terms of the business, but also in terms of the system processes that lie behind it. Personally, I would not like to write in any other language than RUST.

What do you feel are the challenges for a principal who manages so many teams?

Marcin: One of the main challenges is the need to design comprehensive solutions that are then implemented by many teams, but they are creating business value as a whole. That is why I devote most of my time to solving technological problems, monitoring the software that has been created, supporting teams and designing solutions.

In my mind, a principal is, first of all, an architect who must design the system in such a way that it is appropriate to the specifics of the business.

What values and skills do you appreciate most in your employees?

Marcin; I manage four teams that program in RUST and C#, each of them works on different projects. This is why it’s very important to take responsibility for software development, creativity, an unconventional approach, a willingness to learn, an openness to new technologies and an ability to solve problems

From your perspective as a principal, what kind of advice would you give to developers who want to become a team leader or even principal?

Marcin: The role of the leader is to pass on the vision of the project accordingly, it helps to build the commitment and motivation of the team. A true leader needs to have such soft skills as team management, assertiveness and effective communication.

Therefore, it is worth developing these qualities to become a team leader or even principal in the future. However, an aspiring programmer must answer the very important question: can I work without programming? Can I design, browse the code, but not a program? And you will find out what is the best for you.

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