Getting onboard with Passenger

By Brandon Phillips, PHP Software Engineer, Passenger.

Growing up in Africa’s biggest financial hub, Johannesburg, South Africa, I have always had a passion for technology and software. However, my career journey to software engineering was not as clear cut as most. I worked my way up through multiple career paths, from becoming a personal trainer in my late teens to joining a digital printing company while studying for a degree, before finally making the move to software engineering (concentrating on web-based backend APIs). 

After successfully building my career, my family and I sold everything we had and moved across the globe to the beautiful coastal town of Bournemouth, England. As if that wasn’t challenging enough, we did so at the height of the December 2020 Covid-19 pandemic. 

In South Africa, I worked for an amazing company. The staff loved working there, turnover was low and any new job would have a tough time living up to my expectations. I was looking for a great team dynamic; a company with a legitimate passion for what they do, that strove to constantly improve, stayed up to date with technology trends and was active in the development community.

Getting to be myself

Once in the UK, I spotted a PHP Software Engineer vacancy at Passenger. The description included many of the company values which I had been looking for and, intrigued, I applied for the position.

I was then invited to meet with Andy, Lead Engineer, and Dave, the CTO of Passenger. They were extremely welcoming, made me feel comfortable and I learned that there was even more to Passenger than I had initially thought. The company was really aligned with my ethics and values, both as a professional and as an individual. Passenger are passionate about the quality of their code base, strong promoters of personal development and are involved in the local PHP community.

I was informed I had progressed to the second stage of the interview process and was overjoyed at the prospect of making it that far. The next stage was to complete a coding challenge and attend an interview with their People team. To my delight, shortly after my initial application, I received an offer of employment.

Getting to know you

Even before my first day, I felt included. I received invitations to a lunch with other engineers and the company-wide summer party. My chosen laptop and other equipment were delivered in advance of my start date, along with a welcome basket filled with amazing goodies (LEGO!!!). On my first day, I was equally nervous and excited. The morning was busy, signing documents and meeting those I would be working closely with. 

The team were extremely helpful in making sure I was up and running smoothly. There was no such thing as a stupid question and everyone was willing to share their knowledge. Within the first week, I received some basic tasks to get familiar with the system and its processes. Everyone was warm and welcoming –  I received lots of messages in that first week saying hello and getting to know me.

Over the following 3 weeks, there was continual on the job training where I was given small tasks to become familiar with the multiple codebases. Following that, the tasks steadily increased in complexity until I was given my first major feature to work on. 

Learning new things is still a regular occurrence, with both the ongoing training offered and the extremely talented team of software engineers I work with daily. I have also attended training that I can apply in both personal and professional capacities (such as First Aid at Work).

Getting people where they want to be

Always seeking to improve and evolve, Passenger has now launched an initiative where every new starter is assigned a buddy to introduce them to the company and guide them through their first few weeks. The company has embraced remote working, though I choose to go into the office periodically, and even with remote working, there is still a great deal of “water-cooler chat” via Slack. My favourite Passenger channels include #Dogs, where there are countless pics of fur babies and #Cycling, where our knowledgeable bike enthusiasts offer advice and organise rides. 

In 2021, I became one of the founding members of Passenger’s Inclusion Guild, which supports our commitment to diversity and has opened my eyes to the difficulties that some people contend with every day.

When I left South Africa and moved halfway around the world, I hoped that I would find a place where I fit in and I wanted to be. I was looking for a place where the team respected each other as individuals and human beings, rather than being seen as just another member of staff. Now that I’ve been at Passenger for nine months, I can happily say that I made the right decision to apply.