The Platform Team at Snapper

What's it like to work at Snapper? We met with the Platform Team, two 2021 interns, Simeng Zou and Ethan Helliwell, now Platform Engineers in the Snapper Grad programme. They share their Snapper experience so far, the advantages of being onboarded with other interns and what they have learned from their mentors since starting.

What are your roles at Snapper?

Ethan: We are both platform engineers. We have the same roles and do the same work. We work alongside the platform lead, looking after tools. We spent the first part of our internship doing testing. We then moved into more of a support role within the business. We have access to lots of different tools compared with devs who may work on just one product. 

What is it like to work at Snapper?

Simeng: I love the dynamic of the organisation. It's so welcoming and supportive. There are only 70 employees, so it's quite small. I've gotten to meet a lot of other staff, many of whom are quite young, so there is a lot of energy and optimism in the team. The management team works really hard to keep everyone involved in what's happening across the company.

Ethan: We were one of 10 interns that started in November. That made it such a great experience as everyone was in the same boat, and we shared the same experiences. It was a great environment for us to learn in. At Snapper, they also have weekly workshops for staff to learn new skills and weekly social activities like playing in a work football team. 

Simeng: We also have a daily watercooler chat (it's great, especially with people still working from home) and end-of-week online games. 

What do you enjoy most about working there?

Ethan: I didn't think I would be this comfortable working in an office. It's such an awesome environment, and the office has a great view. It makes it a really welcoming environment to come into. 

Simeng: I personally enjoy working from home, and Snapper allows me to choose where I work best. They offer flexibility and let us choose which I really like. 

How did you find the experience of working with other interns?

Ethan: We get on great. The two of us [Simeng and me] were in the test lab working together during the summer. It was great to talk about our experiences; it was like being part of an extended family. 

Simeng: We all bonded so well together. We were in the office together for the first two months, so we would have lunch together every day and would often have intern outings together. 

Ethan: The other interns worked in different teams and had different backgrounds and skills, so it was great to share that with each other. 

What was a highlight of working together as a team?

Simeng: When we worked out something together. 

Ethan: Celebrating together after bouncing ideas off each other. 

Simeng: Originally, we worked on everything together, so we bonded really close, supporting and helping each other. I'm not a "tech person" at all, so we complemented each other's knowledge gaps. We'd also work together to try and solve the problem, rather than going to our supervisor. 

What have you learnt from each other?

Ethan: I need to pay more attention to detail, and Simeng is really good at that. 

Simeng: I'm not a tech person at all - I used to work in Early Childhood Education. The technical side of things was tricky for me, and Ethan really helped me learn. 

Who do you go to for guidance or to ask questions?

Ethan: Other interns, our supervisor or Simeng. Our teammates also provided a lot of support. 

What have you learnt from your mentors or supervisors?

Ethan: Have a plan for each day. At stand-up each morning, we talk through exactly that. Every day is different, so you also need to be ready to tackle things that come up. 

Simeng: Multi-tasking skills. [Our supervisor] is across everything and is very busy. She knows how to prioritise things when a task is given and knows that some things can wait. She helped us formalise a process that helped us prioritise as jobs came in. 

How does your team celebrate success?

Ethan: We do the Wordle or the Stuff quiz to break up the day. Sometimes we'll have lunch to celebrate successes. We also have a weekly team meeting with "honourable mentions" to acknowledge work and wins. 

If you could describe your team in 1 word, what would it be? Why?

The validators! We spend a lot of time validating things to make sure they are compliant and working as they should be.