Lois won a Lego competition and became an employee at 84codes

Sometimes a series of coincidences align, leading to unexpected outcomes. Lois Soto López’s victory in an 84codes Lego competition at a conference led us to discover the Erlang developer we had been seeking.

The question “What if?” often pops up when we reflect on life events. For instance, what if I hadn’t attended the party where I met my future husband? Similarly, what if Lois hadn’t participated in the 84codes Lego competition during last year’s RabbitMQ Summit in Berlin? Fortunately, he did, and now he’s part of our team!

Lois, based in A Coruña, Northern Spain, joined the 84codes team in February and is currently settling into his new role. His journey began with an email from 84codes. Initially, we reached out to congratulate him on his competition win and explore if his then-employer might be interested in 84codes’ services.

Impressed by what he had seen of the company, Lois responded. “I thought 84codes seemed like a really cool company and asked via email if they were hiring at the moment.” 84codes was indeed looking for an experienced Erlang developer at that time, and we couldn’t be happier that our paths crossed.

The rest, as they say, is history.

Just a few days into his employment, Lois joined our workaway in Hemavan. Despite the surprise of receiving an invitation so early on, he packed his bags and left Spain for the snowy hills of Hemavan.

– It was my first skiing trip and it was awesome. Everyone was super-friendly and we spent quite a decent part of the workaway on the slopes. However, the best part for me was that during working hours we had not only discussions on company wide topics, but also on technologies and products that we could use. So the geek part of me was so happy about it.

As summer approaches, we took some time to hear about Lois’s experience at 84codes so far. Lois has found his routines and spends his time at 84codes learning the internals of the RabbitMQ Server and working on contributions for that project.

– Which is great because I feel like contributing to open-source projects is a good way to gain expertise.

He is also helping either the dev team, aiding on the integration of our products with RabbitMQ, and the support team, helping them solving customer issues and doubts.

– This combo of responsibilities puts me in a position where I can look at the software I work with from different perspectives, which leads to a better understanding of the whole system.

What do you think about the 84codes culture?
– I love the culture of communication. People write on Slack about interesting technical discoveries, tasks they are dealing with or just how they are going to spend the rest of the day. It makes me feel involved because as any other colleague I know what is going on and which are the company daily challenges and achievements.

What aspect of your work excites you the most? 
– I have a passion for software, particularly when it’s both functional and efficient. I enjoy solving complex problems using simple code, specially when its easy to read. The process of problem-solving in coding, improving efficiency, and paving the way for future solutions excites me.

What in remote working with 84codes drew you in? 
– The fact that a company lets you work remote shows trust and sets the stage for a good worker-company relationship. But what is as important as working remote for me is having a flexible and async time schedule. Although I don’t have too many daily obligations outside of work, it’s wonderful to see my colleagues pausing their working day to take care of their kids, or taking a relative to the airport or handle other personal matters.

What does a workday look like for you?
– I’m an early bird, so I spend the first few hours catching up on company updates on Slack, keeping up with the Erlang ecosystem news, reviewing my GitHub notifications, and preparing for my daily meeting with my colleague, Peter. Between 10.30 and 11.30, I take a 15-minute break with my flatmate. We typically go to the supermarket beneath our apartment to buy food for the day. After that, I usually spend the rest of the day reading and writing code, with a brief pause for lunch at 2, until I finish around 3.30 - 4.00.

If you’re interested in working with us, watch for open positions and don’t hesitate to contact us if you have any questions. We’re always happy to talk about the 84codes culture.