What sets PartsTrader a-part?
We’re a software development company, but we do a lot more than cut code. We’re helping people make smarter collision repair decisions every day, learning lots and having a bit of fun along the way too.
“The Engine Room” - PartsTrader’s Developer and Quality leads. Left to right: Lisa Taylor, James McPheat and David Smith
Team Culture
how down-to-earth and fun they were. Relaxed and well... just regular people. We could see that they placed a good emphasis on work-life balance.
“People often comment when they visit our office that it looks like there is a lot of fun and collaboration happening. They aren't wrong! We are always finding new ways to make even the most difficult tasks a little ‘interesting’.
- David Smith (Quality Lead)
Lisa and Ben pictured here working hard and having fun on our hackathon “Accelerate Day”
Ownership
Last summer at PartsTrader our interns were given a goal, and given the freedom to figure out how to get there.
“We have that kind of mentality with our other projects. We do have safety nets and guidelines to help make sure what’s delivered meets our standards, but the road to deliver is yours. The team review each project on its completion, whether it is successful or not. It's ok to fail, as long as we learn from it and use those learnings going forward. Ownership is at the team level.”
- Lisa Taylor (Developer Leader).
All new staff get to host Rambo on their desk until the next person joins
Mentorship and Coaching
At PartsTrader, there is a difference between mentorship and coaching. Each intern is set up with both a mentor and a coach. A coach is usually in your team guiding you as you are learning day-to-day. Your mentor is external to the team. They are there to help you with your career and other challenges that may not be tech-related.
A unique approach to Work
They work a little differently at PartsTrader.
“We work pretty hard on ensuring that we are constantly reviewing our processes and identify areas where we can be more efficient. We encourage creativity and innovation and use lots of good agile practices such as retrospectives to help us reflect and identify how best to improve.”
- Lisa Taylor
Meet Matty Siew (Group Accountant) getting stuck in
It is totally ok to fail fast at PartsTrader. “We support learning and continuous development. We even set up an AWS Academy and have developed several learning Guilds, or groups interested in specialising and learning more about different things. We each get a budget to upskill and set ourselves targets, and rewards along the way for completing those targets.” Says Lisa. They also do a great job at putting their people first. “It isn’t unusual to share challenges and success around the kitchen table with the general manager,” says James McPheat (Developer Leader). They have a pretty flat structure which helps to nurture that culture. Everybody gets to have a voice!
Lisa Taylor, James McPheat, David Smith
Developer Leaders & Quality Lead, PartsTrader