Meet Rob: 4 Reasons Why Work Days are Brighter for Developers Here
My journey to Workday is a story of luck and fortune. A friend of mine was working at Workday at the time and I attended a few Meetup events the company hosted. I could see myself working within the open culture that was present at these events. In my second year in undergrad, I hosted an Intervarsity Hackathon and asked Workday to host. They kindly agreed and it was a huge success! To this day, I have former classmates talk about that event and how much fun it was.
After such a great experience with Workday through the Hackathon, I immediately knew this was a place I wanted to work and applied to the internship program. Thankfully, I did well in the interview process and was offered an internship. I accepted the offer to come back as part of the Generation Workday program to continue my journey as a full-time employee. I’m now a Software Development Engineer, where I specifically support Workday’s Learning Product team. It’s very rewarding to be building tools that allow our customers to develop their skills and drive their career growth, which is something I’m very passionate about.
I’ve been with Workday for four years, and each year has been so different! With the support of my team, and the opportunities to do rotations with other development teams within Workday, I’ve been able to continue to grow while being a Workmate. We as Workmates promote a mindset that “Your work days are brighter here,” and I’m sharing 4 reasons why work days are brighter here for developers.
You can expand your skills without job hopping
I’ve always had professional development support by having frequent conversations on where I wish to take my career. Workday sees upskilling as a benefit to both the Workmate and the company. Thanks to this level of transparency, I now work on new internal innovative projects, which allow for me to grow my skills relating to my areas of interests. Workday also encourages cross-team collaboration, which was highlighted when I worked a rotation with the DevOps team. I was able to improve my skills in the area of DevOps, which in turn would benefit my team. You don’t often get to grow your skills until you leave a company, but Workday is invested in the growth of its people.
You gain exposure to a diverse tech stack
You have the opportunity to work on a wide variety of technologies when you’re a part of the development team at Workday. When I joined, I was initially working with our proprietary technologies, like XpressO (XO). XO, in my mind, is a core resource that enables Workday to deliver features to customers with speed, quality and most importantly, security. Over time, I found I wanted to venture outside the proprietary tooling and do what I love, which is to continuously learn new skills. Through open and honest conversations with my manager, I transitioned to a more UI-centred role, which allowed me to work on React via NodeJS solutions. From here, I then moved to greenfield projects that focused on Cloud Architecture and Python development, with hints of infrastructure as code development through Terraform. Through working with a range of technologies in Workday, particularly XO, it’s allowed me to better understand how each of these elements couple with each other. Experience in these frameworks and technologies (both proprietary and public) enables Workmates to constantly learn, whilst delivering quality and secure solutions that support the business and, most importantly, our customers.
You’re part of a culture unlike any other
Across Workday, there is a strong culture of learning, collaboration and trust. Everyone here is driven by doing the best work and supporting each other. What I love most is that no matter someone’s position, tenure or area of expertise, you can easily approach anyone with a challenge. Even if someone doesn’t know the answer, they will be supportive and transparent to help you reach your goals. This rings true especially on the development team. Everyone is encouraged to not only work on their own skills, but to also help mentor and collaborate with peers. There is a real team atmosphere of supporting each other to do the best work because if we all do great, Workday does great. Workmates all share a common passion of delivering best-in-class solutions while having fun.
It’s a place you want to stay long-term
I have now been in Workday for four years and have had many ask me as to what has led me to stay. It’s a simple answer-the people. To be a Workmate is to be motivated by purpose and empathy. If I had to define a Workmate, I’d say it’s someone that looks to execute with quality whilst ensuring that they embody Workday’s Core Values. We all believe in this, and it makes for a work environment that leaves you feeling invigorated rather than drained at the end of the day.
What’s great about our Workmates is that everyone is generally positive and willing to take on the challenges ahead, while also having a bit of craic on the journey to success. If you’re interested in working somewhere that code begins and ends with people, check out development opportunities with Workday here.
A brighter work day is just around the corner☀️. Explore career opportunities here. For more #WDAYLife content, follow us on Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn.
