<commit_before>---
layout: post
title: "My first months at GitLab B.V."
date: 2014-12-11
comments: true
categories:
author: <NAME>
---

I started working at GitLab B.V. in October of this year, making this my third month with the company. Working here has
been the best professional experience I've had so far, and I would like to share with you how I got here and how this time
has affected my view on a lot of different subjects.

<!-- more -->

The journey to today started back in late September. I had just finished working on project that a Mexican company hired
me to do remotely and I was looking for my next challenge. A couple of days passed and I decided to update the GitLab
installation that I use for personal projects. When I visited GitLab's home page, I saw a completely new design. The
simplicity and usability caught my eye, so I started exploring the website. A few clicks later I landed on the Jobs page.

Looking through their openings I saw one that spoke to me. _Service Engineer_. It really caught my attention that
they were looking for someone to work remotely from North or South America. At this point I said to myself:

> Self, you are in South America! You should apply to this job.

Without thinking twice, I gathered my resume and sent it to Sytse (You know Sytse, right? He is the one always lurking
in the comments. Oh, he is also our CEO).

This is where the most exciting part started. I wasn't hoping for such a quick response, but Sytse answered my email within
2 days and, within 3, I was already talking to him. I never knew a job interview would be such a pleasant experience. We
started talking about the regular stuff, _What working experience do you have?_ _Where did you study?_ _What did you
study?_, etc. After we got these formalities done, we started talking about what goals I have and how they would line up
with the company's goals. This is where I think fate intervened, our goals and core values lined up.

> Quick recap of GitLab B.V.'s core values:

>
- Open Source is always important (Sharing is caring)
- People and their happiness are a top priority
- Responsibility and Accountability (There is no boss breathing down your neck every few hours)
- Freedom of schedule

I was in a place where I wanted to learn as much as I could; to work for a young and fast moving company and I also wanted to
contribute to an open source project. GitLab B.V. offered all these and more. I never thought I could find all these attributes
in a single company, but I did and within two weeks I started working for one of the greatest open source companies out there.


### Meeting the team

Before I started to officially work with GitLab B.V., Sytse invited me to join one of the daily team calls. It was on a
Thursday. I remember it clearly, because I was very nervous. My fears were quickly allayed, though. The team was very welcoming
and everyone spoke with such a laid back tone that I quickly felt comfortable.

After meeting with them via Google Hangouts every day and talking about our days, sometimes also joking around, you actually
get to know a lot about them, even though you only see them via a webcam. Well the guys in the Netherlands see each other
in person on occasions, but since I'm on the other side of the Atlantic, this is a luxury I don't have.

Nonetheless every single member of the team has made me feel appreciated and welcomed and have always helped me whenever
I needed it.


### The actual work

During the first days as a Service Engineer Job helped me a lot. He guided me through the steps required to solve a ticket
posted by a client and showed me the ins and outs of the work. But we are separated by 6 time zones, meaning we have a
small time frame when we could actually work together. Because of this, we decided to set a time everyday to discuss all
the important issues and to give each other feedback on the work I was delivering.

After some guidance and pointers I started working by myself. It seemed like a daunting task at first, specially because
GitLab B.V. has some Fortune 500 companies as clients, but after talking with the people behind these companies I learned
they are just regular people. It became evident that I was just helping people to solve problems. It didn't matter if I didn't
have the answer right away. I can always ask the incredible team I work with, and no one is going to bite my head off for
not knowing something.
<commit_msg>Corrected a sentence and added a missing comma.<commit_after>---
layout: post
title: "My first months at GitLab B.V."
date: 2014-12-11
comments: true
categories:
author: <NAME>
---

I started working at GitLab B.V. in October of this year, making this my third month with the company. Working here has
been the best professional experience I've had so far, and I would like to share with you how I got here and how this time
has affected my view on a lot of different subjects.

<!-- more -->

The journey to today started back in late September. I had just finished working on project that a Mexican company hired
me to do remotely and I was looking for my next challenge. A couple of days passed and I decided to update the GitLab
installation that I use for personal projects. When I visited GitLab's home page, I saw a completely new design. The
simplicity and usability caught my eye, so I started exploring the website. A few clicks later I landed on the Jobs page.

Looking through their openings I saw one that spoke to me. _Service Engineer_. It really caught my attention that
they were looking for someone to work remotely from North or South America. At this point I said to myself:

> Self, you are in South America! You should apply to this job.

Without thinking twice, I gathered my resume and sent it to Sytse (You know Sytse, right? He is the one always lurking
in the comments. Oh, he is also our CEO).

This is where the most exciting part started. I wasn't hoping for such a quick response, but Sytse answered my email within
2 days and, within 3, I was already talking to him. I never knew a job interview would be such a pleasant experience. We
started talking about the regular stuff, _What working experience do you have?_ _Where did you study?_ _What did you
study?_, etc. After we got these formalities done, we started talking about what goals I have and how they would line up
with the company's goals. This is where I think fate intervened, our goals and core values lined up.

> Quick recap of GitLab B.V.'s core values:

>
- Open Source is always important (Sharing is caring)
- People and their happiness are a top priority
- Responsibility and Accountability (There is no boss breathing down your neck every few hours)
- Freedom of schedule

I was in a place where I wanted to learn as much as I could; to work for a young and fast moving company and I also wanted to
contribute to an open source project. GitLab B.V. offered all these and more. I never thought I could find all these attributes
in a single company, but I did and within two weeks I started working for one of the greatest open source companies out there.


### Meeting the team

Before I started to officially work with GitLab B.V., Sytse invited me to join one of the daily team calls. It was on a
Thursday. I remember it clearly, because I was very nervous. My fears were quickly allayed, though. The team was very welcoming
and everyone spoke with such a laid back tone that I quickly felt comfortable.

After meeting with them via Google Hangouts every day and talking about our days, sometimes also joking around, you actually
get to know a lot about them, even though you only see them via a webcam. Well the guys in the Netherlands see each other
in person on occasions, but since I'm on the other side of the Atlantic, this is a luxury I don't have.

Nonetheless every single member of the team has made me feel appreciated and welcomed and have always helped me whenever
I needed it.


### The actual work

During the first days as a Service Engineer, Job helped me a lot. He guided me through the steps required to solve a ticket
posted by a client and showed me the ins and outs of the work. Since we are separated by 6 time zones, meaning we have a
small time frame when we could actually work together, we decided to set a time everyday to discuss all
the important issues and to give each other feedback on the work I was delivering.

After some guidance and pointers I started working by myself. It seemed like a daunting task at first, specially because
GitLab B.V. has some Fortune 500 companies as clients, but after talking with the people behind these companies I learned
they are just regular people. It became evident that I was just helping people to solve problems. It didn't matter if I didn't
have the answer right away. I can always ask the incredible team I work with, and no one is going to bite my head off for
not knowing something.

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