Being passionately interested in what you do – that’s the secret of job satisfaction for one Development Manager working at Swedish digital developer Vocean.
”We work with the very latest technologies, so you’re constantly learning new things. That’s why it’s crucial you think staying up-to-date is fun”, says Daniel Ekbom.
Vocean is a digital ideas platform where users can conduct different activities to generate new ideas and collectively evaluate them. By collaborating digitally – digital co-creation as it’s popularly known – a company can gather lots of different perspectives on an idea or issue, which helps provide a better basis for smarter decision-making.
As a Development Manager at Vocean Daniel is involved in the entire development chain, from deciding what issue needs to be addressed next to figuring out how it will work, implementing the change, testing and maintenance.
“Everyone in the company is closely involved in all parts of the organization. Everyone thinks about how the platform could be developed and everyone is made to feel like a key player in the team – which I believe is important. You really get an overall sense of what is going on”, says Daniel.
He enjoys the work flexibility at Vocean – where autonomy comes with responsibility and employees are encouraged to work the times they want and from where they want.
“It opens up exciting opportunities, because you are not bound to an office until 5pm every day. I think that is worth a lot. And all my colleagues are only the push of a button away, so it doesn’t limit the way I work at all”, says Daniel.
The development group meets digitally once a week, and the entire Vocean team meets in person once a month, when they always come up with something fun to do.
“Despite the fact that many of us work from different locations we manage to keep the group spirit strong. We are a great bunch! Kindness is one of Vocean’s most important values and it counts for a lot when we recruit new colleagues – and it shows in how well we work together”, says Daniel.
When Vocean recruits, a candidate’s personality plays a crucial role. Being kind, curious and driven are all considered important qualities.
“You don’t need to know everything from day one when you step through the door as a new employee at Vocean. The most important thing is that you have a passionate interest in the job. Have that and you can learn anything. We work all the time with the latest technology, which means we constantly have to learn new things. It’s exciting – but you have to think it’s fun too. We can never run the risk of working with old technologies”, says Daniel.
He describes Vocean as having a very flat organizational structure. Everyone can get involved in all parts of the business, everyone gets information about what’s going on and everyone is involved in decisions.
“We’re building this company together, which is a wonderful feeling and creates participation and commitment! It is our platform and everyone’s idea”, says Daniel.
