As part of our 10-year celebration, we have decided to take a look back at this past decade of Akoova and have a chat with our oldest employee: Senior DevOps Engineer Mark Simon!
Mark has been with the company for many years and has witnessed its growth and several milestones first-hand. Join us in finding out a bit more about his and Akoova’s history:
When did you join Akoova?
“If I remember correctly, it was on 16 February 2015. 8 years ago.”
What drew you to the opportunity and how did you get the job?
“I was working for “Alex and Alexa”, a Magento shop that was bought by a Swedish company.
One of my colleagues at the time recommended me to Ossy and Zac and after an interview, I was hired as the first employee.“
How have you evolved at Akoova during this time?
“In a small team, titles are not as important. Therefore as my interests grew along with the company, I had the chance to work in a few different positions. This gave me the opportunity of trying new things and expanding my experience and knowledge. I really enjoy working on challenges outside my comfort zone.”
What’s your favourite thing about Akoova? What has made you stay?
“What I admire most about Akoova is the high expectations we have of the work we put out, which leads to a very high quality of work.
Also, I deeply value having the perfect balance between learning new things and teaching the stuff that I’ve learned. Sharing knowledge is very important to me, and a big part of life at Akoova.”
What project are you most proud of?
“There have been so many exciting projects throughout the years, that it is difficult to choose just one. But what I’ve enjoyed the most is simplifying existing code. It gives me great pleasure to improve code by cleaning up unused bits and making it overall less complicated.”
Have you learnt anything at Akoova that you take for life?
“Every process at Akoova is built on the Lean way of thinking with the goal of continuous improvement. Ever since witnessing how much positive impact Lean has on our work, I try to apply a few of its key aspects to my daily personal life.”
What are your hopes for your future at Akoova?
“It would be amazing to be involved in an international expansion!”
Want to join Mark and the team? Keep an eye out for open positions on our careers page.
