Felix, Frontend Developer
Meet Felix, a SumUp employee working within our frontend developer team at our Berlin office. We took him away from his super clean desk and had a quick chat about work life at SumUp and what the team looks for beyond coding skills when hiring new talented developers.
Felix, please describe in a few sentences what you do here at SumUp!
"I am a frontend engineer. This means I write a lot of JavaScript, HTML, and CSS (styles). Most of my time, I spend working on the SumUp Dashboard. The Dashboard allows merchants to inspect their transaction history, get useful business insights, manage their employees, and much more."
What makes SumUp a great company to work for?
"There are many reasons making SumUp a great company to work for. Three stick out to me, personally.
Contributing to a “real” product that makes a difference in people’s day-to-day lives, mine included, is awesome. Paying by card, unfortunately, still is much more difficult than it should be, especially in Germany. Knowing that we are working hard to change that, is a great feeling. Being able to tell friends that we make this sexy card terminal, they could finally make card payments with at our favorite restaurant, is also pretty great.
Personal impact. While SumUp has grown tremendously since I joined, two years ago, I think people here still have a lot of impact on our product. From helping decide on the name of our next card terminal to collaboratively working out a big new product feature, people can get involved.
Our team. People here at SumUp are genuinely nice. We even have a colleague who regularly goes around the place hugging people. That is how nice we are 🤗."
Beyond practical coding skills, what else are you looking for when you hire new developers?
"As already mentioned above, we like nice people. All the coding skills in the world will not help building a great product, if the team does not get along or you do not feel like you can talk openly to your colleagues. Additionally, we look for people who we sense care about the stuff they work on. To us, it is important that developers also care about the design and usability of the product they work on."
You are being known for having one of the cleanest / purest work desks here at SumUp. What makes a great workplace for you?
"We spend a considerable part of our lives at work. So, to me, a great workplace should be a place we enjoy spending time at. Having a neat desk is really just a result of wanting to enjoy looking at it when I sit at the office and write code. Similarly, being in an open room with lots of light and other people is also important. Lastly, while being around people and not feeling alone while working, noise should stay at a level that does not require me to put on headphones or use earplugs."
Please name 3 tools you couldn’t live without!
"Vim/Neovim, Git, and Divvy"
What are you up to when you leave the office?
"I usually do sports in the morning or during the lunch break. So, most evenings, I ride my bike home and have dinner with my girlfriend. Sometimes I grab dinner with friends or go to one of the many meetups we have in Berlin. I also work on some small side projects to try out new tech."
Want to join Felix' frontend team to further shape the world of mobile payments? Take a look at our current job vacancies!
