Culture of Approachability
Last updated
Last updated
From a garage startup to a unicorn, from less than 5 to 3500 employees – in the 15 year of existence, for sure, we have changed, as individuals, as a company. Our culture has changed too, we evolved as we grew. However, the foundations that Infobip was built on haven't changed - we are an approachable bunch of engineers and professionals.
Although there is much we have achieved, there is a lot of undiscovered territories and undeveloped solutions.
In this engineering endeavor, we function as an expedition, aware that everyone’s role is important and every contribution can be vital. We want each of us to grow and develop our full potential, and leadership is here to empower people in these endeavors, to clear the way from impediments.
Being aware that everyone contributes to common goals, we try not to function as a classic hierarchical structure. We won't lie, titles exist, as they define the scope of influence, but there is no nobility that is untouchable. As we have seen numerous times over the years, an Infobip Junior Engineer, for example, can talk with Principal Engineers whenever they need support od advice.
The founders of the company - Silvio, Roberto and Izabel, are easy-going, down-to-earth people who you can approach at any time, sit with them desk to desk, share a lunch table, discuss business strategy or share your experience on pots for quick food preparation. This openness and availability which is part of our engineering and entrepreneurship mindsets, enables important information, insights, and discoveries to travel quickly and without bottle-necks and lead to creativity and innovation.
We promote self-organizing teams so there is no need for micromanagement. Communication is transparent and the whole team is empowered so that everyone can be accountable for the work they do.
Infobip employee growth is a positive process that made many parts of the job much easier. Yet certain parts… well, they got a little bit harder to do.. As Infobip engineering grew, as expected it became a bit harder to organize workflow. At the same time, it got significantly harder to steer the wheel in the exact same direction.
Having many engineers working in many locations leads to people having questions they might be unsure on who to ask to, what to focus on, etc.
How does that help you as an individual engineer?
Long story short: Whatever you might want to ask, you can be sure that they most probably already have the expertise to help you. But more importantly, are approachable and willing to help!
Hence our ! We had several folks with a strong technical background, and understanding of their domain that were super hands-on and understood the organization. So, the next step was quite obvious: To merge these exceptional players into one team.
Well, apart from being the leaders of the Engineering initiatives, they also serve as a single, approachable point of contact to engineering. .
