4th January 2016 marked the start date for a number of new Synthesis employees who joined as part of our graduate recruitment drive last year. It is almost 4 weeks later and we are very pleased to say that each new member has been fully assimilated and already starting to become productive in the teams that they have joined.
Below is a short write-up from each of the new team members on their experience at Synthesis thus far:
Jared
In the first week of our onboarding we went over some core fundamentals such as HTML, CSS, JavaScript, Angular and git among others. For me personally, learning about Test Driven Development (TDD) and unit testing with the Karma framework as well as automated build tools such as Gulp and Grunt was invaluable and will go a far way in making me a more productive developer. Another highlight for me was getting more familiar with the shortcuts of vim as vim can be really frustrating when trying to navigate a file without knowing shortcuts.
During the second week, we focused on modeling objects and processes with the intent to realize that the real world cannot always be succinctly expressed in the digital world. In order to create simple yet effective models we need to make sure that we understand the problem domain and any implicit assumptions we make about a problem. We then focused on modeling objects in JavaScript with the help of prototypes and how to deal with some of the weirdness (you mean awesomeness? [ed]) of JavaScript.
Aside from the core development, we were also introduced to the company?s coding dojo and tech sessions which are held on a regular basis with the goal to share knowledge and develop new skills within the company. Overall, the 2-week onboarding process was really helpful with easing into the company?s philosophy, culture and traditions.
Nishaal
Sunday the night before my first day at Synthesis, excitements were running high, nerves were acting up, anxiety was setting in, and sleep was not an option ? mainly due to the fact that I had no idea what to expect when I walked into work the next morning.
During my first two weeks at Synthesis, the more experienced colleagues set time aside from their busy schedules and worked on developing our skills and introduced a variety of technologies used in industry – some of which I never worked with prior to joining this company. And yes, the learning curve was steep, but the company knew my fellow graduate colleagues and I were capable.
One of the main concerns an individual has before joining a new company is: “Will I get along with other colleagues?”. This was definitely not an issue, reason being I always got a family orientated vibe from Synthesis during the recruitment process and this was once more proven true on my first day at Synthesis.
In simple words, Synthesis offers a comfortable working environment, with experienced colleagues who are willing to put their work aside and assist in any way they can.
Julian
As a graduate straight out of university, I could not anticipate what was expected of me at a software development company. My first day at Synthesis began with a warm and friendly welcome from my colleagues.
During my first three weeks I have learnt that Synthesis is more than a company that develops software – it is a company that encourages and develops individuals – to say the least. The culture of Synthesis is unique and provides an environment that promotes software development, together with the ability to interact with your colleagues in a constructive manner. Colleagues aspire for others to grow and they are always there to lend a helping hand. Constructive team meetings and friendly reminders that the Synthesis staff are going out for lunch are just a few reminders that show me that the journey of becoming a better software developer and individual begins at Synthesis.
Kartik
Synthesis is a company full of different personalities but the thing that remains common amongst everyone is the passion to solve problems through technology. The structure of the company allows easy communication with seniors and allowed a junior like me to pick the brains of the senior developers. I also appreciate the time and patience that the seniors are willing to give us to help and clarify concepts. It doesn?t matter if the problem is long or short, they explore every avenue to solidify the concepts and expand our knowledge. This attitude resonates the culture of working hard, understanding the problem and creating a holistic solution.
Mokgali
Joining Synthesis as a software developer graduate has been one of the most exciting and fulfilling experiences. Not only do I get to work with very experienced and highly skilled professionals but I get to learn from them as well.
Through the financial niche software solutions that have been developed and are being developed within the company, I am being exposed and learning more on the financial side of industry and that is adding more value to my career that is taking off.
The working environment encourages us to be full stack developers who are vexed in multiple programming languages and software development tools. As such I have learnt that knowing the limitations of tools enables one to choose tools that best fit the client’s problem.
As part of the ongoing graduates training, we have a senior developer introducing us to major development and project management tools. Additionally, we have an amazing coding dojo where graduates meet and conduct programming sessions using different software languages. These sessions help refine our skills as software developers. Last but not least Synthesis is not only a hard working team but a very social one .We organise socials and have fun as a team. As they say all work and no play makes Jack a dull boy.
Synthesis welcomes all the new graduates to our team of highly motivated and passionate professionals.
