Put on those oven mitts, because the Faces of Frantic is here – fresh from the oven! This time we sat down with Jutta, our incredibly talented front-end prodigy, who attended aTalent Recruiting’s Coding Bus event and managed to score herself a job at Frantic.
Moi Jutta, how’s it going?
Pretty well, thanks!
What is it that you do at Frantic?
I started as a developer six months ago and I’ve been working on smaller tasks for various projects. Because I’m still at school and working part-time at Frantic, I haven’t had the chance to work on a bigger project yet. However, it’s been great to get such a comprehensive overview of all the stuff we do here!
I’m a fan of diverse tasks and I find it refreshing that I don’t always know what I will be working on the next day. If I had to choose between doing just one project or working on several, I’d choose several in a heartbeat.
How did you end up becoming a developer?
When I was applying to universities, I knew I would go for engineering. Both my parents have an MSc in Technology and that was always something I wanted to do. For the first couple of years I studied at the Aalto University School of Electrical Engineering and did a couple of mandatory courses in programming through that. However, I got really into it and decided to change my major.
When I started studying I didn’t realize that I could do this for a living – I made a lot of different fan pages for different TV shows and I was actively participating in blending challenges, where you had to, for example, combine different textures on your own site and compete for the best implementation. I did loads of stuff like that when I was younger and then when I changed my major to information technology, I got to dig much deeper into programming. At least at Aalto, they don’t really teach that much web programming, but mostly stuff like C, Python and Java. I just happen to find front-end stuff much more interesting.
What makes a good front-end developer in your opinion?
Probably versatility. There’s always new stuff to learn and you can’t get away with doing the same things over and over again. You also need to have an understanding of what happens under the surface. And on the other hand, you need to understand design. So basically, you need to be a bit of a jack of all trades.
What do you do when you’re not at work?
Currently I spend most of my “spare” time at school and working for some of the university’s societies. I’ve been a part of several of the guilds and societies in Otaniemi, and done a lot of event organizing and design stuff for them. I also have a thing for beer walking.
What’s the best thing about your job?
Probably the fact that I get to do such a wide range of things, and that I never know what’s coming next. I still learn something new every day, which has been very cool! At my previous jobs, I’ve mostly focused on one bigger entity at a time, but because my assignments here vary so much, I learn at least one small thing every day. And that’s awesome!
What’s the most challenging thing about your job?
Probably the same thing! There’s constantly new stuff to learn and you have to be able to adapt to changing situations. On the other hand, I often get asked to do the tiniest updates, but it might take a while to find out how to make that change. All projects are different and all developers have their own way of doing things.
How would you describe the culture and ways of working at Frantic?
The atmosphere is pretty lively compared to my previous jobs, where I sat alone or with a couple people tops. There’s always something going on here and I quite like that. It’s easy for me to concentrate anywhere and even if I really feel like I need to be alone, I can always work from home. I’ve actually worked from a ferry over to Tallinn a couple of times, and that’s been fine, too.
Why did you choose Frantic out of all the companies out there?
We visited Frantic with the Coding Bus and all the attendees got an interview with one of the two sponsors. I chose Frantic because it’s more web-oriented and when I asked about part-time work, people seemed more open to it. I came in for my interview and it went really well. Actually, they offered me the job right away.
What skills would you like to develop in the future?
I’d like to learn… everything. Kidding. Of course I’d like to get better at what I already do, but even now I find myself learning new stuff every day, just by doing. And then if at some point when I’m done with school and I have time to work full-time, I’d be able to take on a bigger project that I could work on from the start.
Would you recommend Frantic as a workplace?
I would. We have a nice atmosphere with good working conditions and interesting clients and projects. We’re pretty much allowed to do our work whenever and wherever, as long as you give your team members a heads up. So basically we have a certain freedom, but in a way that just makes everyone work harder.
If you could step into another frantimone's shoes for a day, who would you be?
Stanley [the office dog], because everyone likes him and he’s always so happy.
Finally, please tell us something that not many of us know about you?
I’ve designed the cover art for one of Robin’s singles.
Thanks for the interview, Jutta!
You wouldn’t happen to be interested in working with awesome projects and the best co-workers in town? What a coincidence! We may well have a little something-something for you!