Summer of Tech

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What sets PartsTrader apart from the rest?

‘The Engine Room’ - PartsTrader’s Developer and Quality leads. Left to right: Lisa Taylor, James McPheat and David Smith

Meet PartsTrader! If you haven’t bumped into them on our social media giving away a hot lap in a drift car, in our weekly newsletter, or through one of their awesome bootcamps - here is an opportunity to find out more about and what really sets them a-part from the rest!

Team Culture

What struck me the most about the team when we met them was how down-to-earth and fun they were. Relaxed and well... just regular people. We could see that they placed a good emphasis on work-life balance.

“People often comment when they visit our office that it looks like there is a lot of fun and collaboration happening. They aren't wrong! We are always finding new ways to make even the most difficult tasks a little ‘interesting’.

- David Smith (Quality Lead)

Lisa and Ben pictured here working hard and having FUN!


Ownership

Last summer at PartsTrader their interns were given a goal, and given the freedom to figure out how to get there.

“We have that kind of mentality with our other projects. We do have safety nets and guidelines to help make sure what’s delivered meets our standards, but the road to deliver is yours. The team review each project on its completion, whether it is successful or not. It's ok to fail, as long as we learn from it and use those learnings going forward. Ownership is at the team level.”

- Lisa Taylor (Developer Leader).

All new staff get to host Rambo on their desk until the next person joins

Mentorship and Coaching

At PartsTrader, there is a difference between mentorship and coaching. Each intern is set up with both a mentor and a coach. A coach is usually in your team guiding you as you are learning day-to-day. Your mentor is external to the team. They are there to help you with your career and other challenges that may not be tech-related.

A unique approach to Work

They work a little differently at PartsTrader.

“We work pretty hard on ensuring that we are constantly reviewing our processes and identify areas where we can be more efficient. We encourage creativity and innovation and use lots of good agile practices such as retrospectives to help us reflect and identify how best to improve.”

- Lisa Taylor

Meet Matty Siew (Group Accountant) getting stuck in.

It is totally ok to fail fast at PartsTrader. “We support learning and continuous development. We even set up an AWS Academy and have developed several learning Guilds, or groups interested in specialising and learning more about different things. We each get a budget to upskill and set ourselves targets, and rewards along the way for completing those targets.” Says Lisa. They also do a great job at putting their people first. “It isn’t unusual to share challenges and success around the kitchen table with the general manager,” says James McPheat (Developer Leader). They have a pretty flat structure which helps to nurture that culture. Everybody gets to have a voice!


Sound like a bit of you? If you would like to learn a little more about PartsTrader You can check out their video here, check out their current roles, or you can see them at Meet n’ Greet this recruiting season!