See you when I see you
This is a story at work. This is also a story of growth. This is a happy story. This is my story in Transifex.
I joined Transifex back in May 2013. I vividly recall that time because I and my wife were expecting our second baby that month. Now my baby is turning 9yo 🙂! My daughter is halfway through elementary school. She grew to be a fine lady with a great sense of humor, her own ideas, her friends, her experiences, learned to ride a bike and swim, traveled abroad, and experienced the pandemic like all of us.
Yet, this is a story at work. This is a story of 9 years at Transifex. If that story was a child it could be like my daughter.
I recall joining Transifex and being quite a rookie in all the aspects possible. But I also had a strong internal drive and determination. I recall my first interview with Kostas — that was also expecting a baby that month — and we still meet; full families or not. Past that I recall my clumsy first months in the company trying my best and yet… But things were getting better, and that was happening at a good pace.
Great people joined Transifex, and we all worked on stuff we liked. What we talked about and what we did had an impact both on the product and on our self-growth. What we did and how we did it, was decided by a colleague you knew by first name and had some beers sometime.
The talent joining Transifex is always exceptional individuals and interesting people that I can have fun with and learn from. All that drive and determination led us to do great work collectively as well as solo. I still recall the trust that Antonis showed me in revamping the whole app within 2 months. I remember the determination that Sofia, Thanos, Alex, Nikos, Ioannis, and Katerina brought to the table to make this happen. It was 2016 and we changed the app's look and usability in 2 months! This was a single instance with many to follow. I recall setting company values back in 2017, going past scrum, building bridges across departments, kickstarting marketing efforts, and building on User Research.
I was impressed the first time I checked the next stop of people that joined the company. Now Antonis is at Skroutz, Alex at PlayStation, Sofia at Zendesk, Katerina at Intercom, Ioannis at Google, Thanos grew to be Director of Engineering, Nikos is a CTO, and I’m a Senior Product Manager. These are not the only people that grew in and out of the company believe me!
I still recall a story that Ioannis shared from his next job: “I’m a product designer ok? Still, I have all the front-end team gathered to teach them BEMIT and the inverse pyramid we implemented for the Transifex CSS system!” Being a part of Transifex always felt like“the place” to do “the thing” in your most “Ocean’s 11” way to say this 😃.
A place and time where ideas and experimentation spawned out of thin air! In a magical way, the mentality is here. It’s in the company’s DNA to attract the right “gang” of people. This stands true even today, and I’m sure it will too tomorrow!
My time with Transifex is almost ending. Like Transifex, I’m too moving forward with my bag packed with great experience, and great expectations for my next stop 🙂. I feel confident in the skills I’ve learned and grateful for all the people I’ve met so far.
So, in my most “Ocean’s 13” voice looking at Transifex: “See you when I see you”
