The Thrill of being a Software Engineer at Vodafone

At Vodafone, I work in the web development department, putting all of my attention on the My Vodafone app, specifically on the e-commerce aspects.

In a nutshell, I create developments that allow the app user, the Vodafone customer, to view the full range of products that we create. This includes providing details on product features, characteristics and offers available at the time, so that the customer can go ahead to make a purchase when ready.

The My Vodafone app is incredibly large and robust. I have worked on other aspects of the app but typically, I have been linked more closely with the commercial journey that a customer takes on the app.

I also help with reviewing the code of other web development colleagues. Because we embrace a continuous improvement approach that looks not only at the quality of the code but also its coverage, we see new versions of the app launched quite regularly.

My proudest moment here

It’s amazing to see how the different developments I create are used by Vodafone customers. One of my greatest achievements is to have created the end-to-end process of selling devices, the shipping configuration and payment. This process is used not just by my team but by many other teams within Vodafone. I created all of this from scratch at the time because when I started here, there was nothing of this sort available.

What I find unique about working at Vodafone

Vodafone is truly a place which embodies a great working environment and where every person is a true colleague, helping you without hesitation. This is a place where you can develop as a software engineer and learn whenever you choose to.

I am particularly thrilled to be contributing to an application that is used by thousands of people daily. It makes me happy to see how my work is put to use in such a practical way and the significant impact my work has. Not only am I able to continuously develop professionally, I also have the opportunity to make very profitable developments that are key to the growth of the company.

From a tech perspective, I have been given the opportunity to work with the latest version of the Angular framework and now I am learning about React, which I will be able to put to use. I’ve also been working with the Jest framework to carry out unit tests in the My Vodafone app which was a unique, useful experience and presented a great learning opportuntiy for me. I discovered it to be a lovely change from the work I usually do. This work is now being applied in code quality control on the SonarQube (open-source) platform and looks to replace another tool that all our developers have been using.

The Vodafone culture

Within the software engineering team, the culture is deeply rooted in continuous improvement. Of course, this in itself can be a complicated endeavour and require much effort from all the developers.

Generally, our teams are autonomous and collaborative because you can always find someone who is willing to help you if you need it. And thanks to our adherence to an agile methodology, our teams can carry out their developments and tackle all sorts of challenges.

I arrived at this company without much industry knowledge but with the trust and support of my managers and colleagues, I feel that I have been able to grow as an engineer and am truly supported. For example, I can take as many courses as I like. I can take these courses during work hours during Spirit of Vodafone Days (dedicated time to recharge and focus on the self) or during Learning Fridays, or I can do it during specially reserved time for training and development.

Once every three weeks, we also have a web workshop for all our developers. At these workshops, we get to spend a good amount of time learning about interesting web development topics. This month alone, we completed twice-weekly half-hour sessions in which our engineers attend shorter web development workshops and we get to hear more about the tools that are being implemented at Vodafone.