In this month’s employee spotlight, we are happy for you to meet one of our talented Salesforce Developers, Patryk Ustymczuk. He has been working at Aquiva Labs since 2021, in Wrocław, Poland.
In this piece we will learn about his career path, daily responsibilities and his great advice to anyone who would like to follow his path and become a successful Salesforce Developer!
On the way to success
Since he was a student, Patryk found his passion and started working as a Salesforce Developer. He began his career as an intern working with Managed Packages, where he grew from a newbie to a developer taking care of less experienced members of the team. After his initial work experience, he realized that he should get out of his comfort zone and gain new skills. With his eagerness to learn, he wanted to focus on studying different approaches and best practices that he can apply at his job, work in an international setting, and continue to expand his skillset.
When he started to miss working with new technologies and scratch orgs, he got an offer to join the Aquiva Labs team. “It was a great chance to work as a PDO. Aquiva Labs was the first time I heard about it (PDO) and I instantly decided that it sounded awesome,” he shared.
Being a Salesforce developer is challenging but rewarding
Since he joined the Aquiva Labs, Patryk has held multiple roles. In the beginning, he worked as a developer and was responsible for working with clients in the US and cooperating with QAs and POs. Later on, he participated in audits, which was a new experience for him. Patryk worked closely with clients to provide them with best practices as well as analyze and propose solutions to their problems. He was busy with problem solving, digging through documentations, and searching for alternatives.
Now his days are much more diverse. A typical day for him might start with technical interviews, where he gets to meet new potential hires. The majority of his day is spent working on projects to optimize his team’s ideas, improve designs, and provide better service to Aquiva Labs’ clients by talking to them and helping them implement those ideas. He then enjoys his daily coffee break with the EU team.
Aquiva Labs’ EU team grew quickly, leading Patryk to become a team lead for new hires and is responsible for managing them and making sure they are adapting well.
Patryk believes that his job is challenging, but very rewarding. “Being a team lead is a totally new role for me. So much to learn. You want to make sure your team is happy,” he shared. On the other hand, there are two things he finds to be the most rewarding, one of them being solving puzzles.
“When developing new software you’re basically faced with some issue that needs to be resolved by a code. You need to understand what the issue actually is, how you can solve it, and consider other options. It’s awesome to see how a problem is transformed into a working software.” Patryk also feels good when he helps others at work and shares his tips on how to solve software puzzles.
Working at Aquiva Labs
As a professional, Patryk appreciates that everyone at Aquiva Labs is focused on “quality over quantity” and getting optimal results. “We’re a PDO, we need to make sure we’re following the highest standards,” he stated. He finds the team to be very friendly, easy to communicate with, and always ready to help.
He also enjoys that there is time for fun too. One of the perks for him is attending the online coffee breaks where he can connect with his colleagues on a more informal and personal level and chat about anything. Additionally, he is excited to attend onsite meetings and events, where he is able to meet his team in person.
When asked about his favorite thing about working at Aquiva Labs, Patryk shared that he mostly values the opportunity to challenge himself in a lot of new roles. This has further developed him as a professional and opened the door to learning new skills and becoming a Salesforce expert.
Always learning new things
Although Patryk is clearly tech savvy, he has some very unique interests outside software development. “I really enjoy learning new stuff. Philosophy? Sign me in. Volcanology? Why not? Early days of Rome? Yup. Trees? Definitely,” he shared.
Patryk is a music lover too, “I have no idea about the hurdy gurdy, or playing any other instrument, but I will be sick if I won’t listen to someone talking with passion about that instrument,” he added.
He is passionate about learning new things, even during his leisure time after work when he goes on a long walk with his dog, while he listens to podcasts about tortoises and pyramids.
Becoming a developer
Choosing your career path can be a challenging decision to make. If you aspire to be a developer but you feel overwhelmed by the idea of how to begin working in this field, the simplest way is to learn the basics and start coding. Patryk believes that using different resources such as books, tech talks and learning from other professionals are great ways to have a head start in your technical career. He also stresses the importance of not being discouraged when obstacles arise.
Even the most experienced developers sometimes are stuck and need help and that's what colleagues are for. Starting with the basics and your will to learn can get you really far!
If you are looking for a new career adventure or you are interested in joining Aquiva Labs’ team, Patryk’s advice is to just send your CV, “Joining a new company seems scary, but after you join, you will quickly realize there is nothing to be afraid of,” shared Patryk.
At Aquiva Labs, we are always on the look for new talented people. If you’re interested in joining our team, check out our open positions and apply today!