Zacharias is a true software engineer at heart. He has been interested in computers and software ever since he was a child. After studying technical computer science, he entered the work field, where he has been for over 15 years. Still, he made a brief foray into mental health care as an activities supervisor. ‘It was nice to try something new and to get away from my screen for a while. But I soon found out that I’m really an IT professional after all.’ Back as a software engineer, he works as a freelancer for many different projects.

In his search for a new job, he ended up with Mati, team captain development at Awareways. There was an immediate match. ‘I enjoyed joining from the beginning of the project. In addition, the chosen techniques, such as event sourcing combined with domain-driven design, fit well with my skills and interests.’ Zacharias knows his way well in the dynamic work and structure of the company. ‘We work with a lot of different people and can therefore realize things very quickly.’

Afonso was born and raised in Portugal. During high school, he didn’t feel much for software development, but when he had to make an assignment for the first time he gets very excited. ‘It feels like a puzzle that you solve for the end of the day. You can play all day.’ He decides to study electrical and computer engineering in Lisbon. The urge to explore more than Portugal was always in him. After he graduated with his master’s, he traveled through Europe, eventually going to work in London as a software developer. 

After returning to Portugal for knee surgery and subsequent recovery, he decides to move to a new country once more: The Netherlands. He is looking for a smaller company where he can contribute a lot to the project. He comes in contact with Awareways and liked the idea of Wave. ‘I didn’t even look further, I just thought let’s go and I love it!’ This backend developer has already learned a lot and is right where he wants to be. ‘I enjoy the amount of new technologies we use as a team. In the beginning, it was stressful because many processes were very new. Now I am comfortable with it and really see how well it works.’

This Rotterdam native discovered his passion for software when his brother opened a car garage and Tolu created a website for him. He turned this out-of-control hobby into his job. He directly combines his studies in software engineering with work life. He owes his first job as a web developer at an advertising agency to that very same website he built for his brother; they were impressed with that. Different industries and companies, he tried them all. But one thing remained the same: working as a backend developer. ‘I have always found the backend more fun and challenging. I prefer to think about how the backend processes work and are put together. Contributing to that which no one sees but keeps everything up.’ 

Tolu likes to learn new things and become familiar with the latest technologies. He finds this well reflected in his role as a backend developer at Awareways. ‘Scrum and canvas I was used to working with but here I get a lot more responsibilities to take on my own part of the project.’ But the event sourcing technique, which is new to him, is also working out well. ‘The strictness of this code is very cool, there are a lot more rules you have to comply with which in turn makes it challenging.’ This combined with the team atmosphere makes him make extra strides.

Priyanka was born in India and studied Electrical and Electronics Engineering there. She started her career as a software engineer in India. When she has gained enough experience, she moves to Malaysia and starts working at a large tech company. Here she developed into a DevOps engineer. A job that involves many IT skills and she also emerged as a scrum master. 

Later on, she and her family moved to the Netherlands for her husband’s work. She joined Awareways and started working as a DevOps engineer. Her experience in innovation and process optimization is very welcome within the development team. ‘The structure of the company and the processes the team is already working with really appealed to me. We work together a lot which makes it extra interesting.’ Despite getting used to the wet Dutch weather, Priyanka is enjoying herself. ‘The security tools are new to me but I enjoy learning about them.’