Product Owner Ugo Micheli went from being solely a fundafan to becoming an employee when he started in September at funda. What do a fresh pair of eyes think of the company? Here are the six things that he thinks are noticeable at The Netherlands’ biggest housing website.
Nine seconds after Ugo Micheli saw the vacancy for Product Owner at funda, a really good friend sent him the exact same link through LinkedIn. ‘We both thought the same thing: this is the job for me.’ After he had gathered some information in his network, he applied as soon as he could. ‘In a small startup, which was mainly my experience, you can just try everything. But at funda, it seemed like everything was based on science instead of opinions.’
But does the company meet his expectations, little over a month that he has been working here now? ‘It is actually better than I had envisioned it to be.’ These are the six highlights of his first month.
1- Very welcoming atmosphere 🙋♀️
‘The first thing that really struck me was how welcoming and nice everybody has been from day 1. From the office management team to your team members, my new funda colleagues really nailed it out of the park to make me feel welcome and at ease. After my fourth day, the office manager who did the onboarding with us said it felt like she already knew me for a month.
The people that work at funda are really approachable. From your direct colleagues to C-level board members: the company has the right size to get in touch with everyone quite quickly. What also made me feel really welcome was the onboarding process, where every department lead took the time to talk the newbees through their department. Hearing from a Chief Technology Officer about the stuff that’s happening, makes you feel valued from the very first start.’
See also: My first four weeks at funda: Software Engineer Bektur
2- The office 😍
‘Nothing beats the power of real social interactions. Funda has a system that allows 50 people to be at the office at the same time and it’s super easy to book a spot. Being in the office two or three times a week really helped me immerse myself into the funda experience; get to know colleagues outside of your team and have a random chat. Whether it was about video games, sports, cultural lunch differences: with everyone I had a nice topic and everyone was really open. Being fully remote would have not allowed those random conversations to happen and would have probably slowed down my integration.’
3- Good processes in place 🔄
‘Funda has been around for 20 years. But part of its DNA is to be innovative and follow-up with trends. I directly saw how great processes help funda stay at the top and always relevant. In my team personally, agile methodology (SCRUM) is well followed and adapted to our needs. I love organisations that use processes to help them grow, but adapt them to not slow you down.’
4- Leadership 🔮
‘One of the reasons the processes within funda work so well, is the fact that funda has a great leadership team in place. Most of the Executive Team have been in the company for several years and know the ins and outs of the business. They lead their teams with data, always on the lookout to challenge themselves and improve. What I really like is the trust and ownership each employee gets from the start: they hired us for a reason and want to give us space to optimize our skills. I can see that there’s a lot of room to grow and learn at funda.’
5- Critical thinking 🔬
‘Funda has a huge amount of traffic and more importantly, very heterogeneous traffic. Funda users vary from the 19-year-old student looking for a room to the 75-year-old grandma looking to get closer to her grandkids. In order to make the right product decisions, we need to think critically of what we are building and how it will serve the user in the best possible way. By being data driven, funda continues to serve the best experience for the housing marketplace in The Netherlands.’
See also: What they don't teach you at software university: 5 insights
6- Impact 💥
‘Whether it’s your grandma, your friends or some randomer in a bar: tell them you work at funda and they all know what you are talking about. Most importantly: the company gives them a positive vibe, which is always a good conversation starter.
Because everybody knows what funda does, the impact you can make with your job is enormous. The things you make with your team, will influence the lives of many potential homeowners.’