Sophie Lambrakis is a senior iOS developer on the mobile apps team who first discovered programming during her A-levels. Until that point she thought computing was just about using Microsoft Office, and found it a bit dull. She took computing A-level because she thought it would be easy (spoiler alert: it wasn’t). Fortunately, Sophie discovered programming and, most importantly, that she really enjoyed it. She then went on to complete a computing degree at Imperial College London.
What was next after the degree?
I started working in visual effects for films, which sounds cool and exciting, however, it wasn’t very inspiring for me, often you can be a small cog in a very big machine, making changes to tools that the artists are using. I realised that I wanted to work on something that was directly used by the general public, and where I could feel like I was making an impact. I moved to smaller startups and iOS development. Often I was the only developer, which was a great learning opportunity, but it could be lonely at times.
When I eventually found myself at the Guardian, it felt like I found the perfect combination. Working in the apps team has been a great experience for me. Not only am I surrounded by amazing team members, but I also get to experience the thrill of sitting on the train and spotting a stranger on their phone using something that I helped create only yesterday.
How did you find your way to the Guardian?
I applied to the Guardian via Silicon MilkRoundabout which is a tech job fair. Four years ago, I was wandering around the fair looking for a new role. The Guardian had a stand there. I had read the Guardian for years, but never really thought about what must happen behind the scenes to make the digital products. I had a chat with some of the developers on the stall about the day-to-day work and culture, and the Guardian sounded like a great fit. It was a happy match for me, although I’m still convinced I only got the job because I’m the only one out there who was reading the Guardian’s Kindle edition!
What’s going on in your day-to-day and apps right now?
Right now we’re working on two objectives and key results (OKRs). The first is adding new features to the Guardian’s breaking news app that our users will find useful and valuable. The other project is around making articles in the apps easier to develop, hopefully the end result will be that we can make changes more quickly, and fix bugs faster. We also occasionally add special features for one-off events (like elections or sports competitions). And, like most development teams, we sometimes discover bugs we need to fix, and put a lot of effort into improving and future-proofing our code.
Most days I try to attend the editor’s virtual morning conference, before heading into our apps team standup. This is where we go through everything we’re working on at the moment and check if anyone has any blockers or needs any help. This really sets the course for my day, and determines whether I’ll be getting on with code on my own, or pairing with one of the other developers.
Most importantly, I attend my colleague Rob’s yoga every Thursday. His amazing free class is an integral part of my routine.
What parts of Guardian culture do you enjoy the most?
I find people are very open and willing to receive feedback and answer questions. You can engage with other teams and understand what each one is doing, regardless of whether it’s part of your own day to day work. We are actively encouraged to be interested in each other’s work, for example, most teams run demo sessions on a regular basis, to showcase what we’re working on and any challenges we’re facing. In the apps team we hold our demos every two weeks, and always get loads of great questions and ideas from other members of the product and engineering department.
I also really appreciate having flexibility around my working hours. The Guardian has a great flexible working policy that I was able to take advantage of. My manager was very supportive and the process itself was incredibly smooth.
Have you discovered any new interests within the department?
The variety of engineering languages and skills in the department is amazing. A lot of the other teams use Javascript, Scala, and AWS technologies, some of which I’m not very well versed in, so it’s been great getting exposure to these. Sometimes, I can feel a bit lost, but when I do have a question everyone is always happy to help. Here, you really have nothing to fear and everything to gain from saying ‘I don’t know’.
One thing I’ve also discovered since working here is that I love interviewing and being involved in the recruitment process. I started doing this about two years ago. Our team was hiring and I was able to sit in on some phone interviews which I enjoyed. I signed up for the training after that and now I do all stages of the process including face to face interviews and pairing exercises with potential candidates. The best part about it is talking to different people and trying to get the best out of them using good questions and interview techniques. When the end result is they join the company, it’s satisfying to know you were a part of making that happen.
Development of digital products is central to the Guardian. You could be building the products that showcase our progressive and independent journalism, crafting the tools that journalists use to write their stories, developing the services that allow those stories to be distributed across the globe, or safeguarding our financial future.
If you’re interested in joining our product and engineering team, please visit the Guardian News & Media careers page.