{"id":579,"date":"2023-12-13T12:48:19","date_gmt":"2023-12-13T12:48:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mercatordigital.kinsta.cloud\/?p=579"},"modified":"2023-12-13T12:48:19","modified_gmt":"2023-12-13T12:48:19","slug":"1-minute-insight-scala-developer","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.mercatordigital.com\/en\/1-minute-insight-scala-developer\/","title":{"rendered":"April Garlington \u2013 Scala Developer"},"content":{"rendered":"

April Garlington gives us a quick insight into being a Scala Developer<\/strong>, changing careers and advice for anyone interested in the role…<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What does your role entail?<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

I work within a multidisciplinary team as a Developer to implement digital transformations envisioned by our clients.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What does a typical day look like for you?<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

I work solo or with other developers on tickets that implement changes to a service. Other team members are always on hand to reach out to if work requires clarification. Meetings with my team happen at least three times a week, the purpose being to either check-in with what everyone is currently doing, what they will be doing in future sprints or to estimate future work. I’ve also had the pleasure of working with other members of the Mercator developer team to enhance the training material offered to new starters.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What sort of clients have you worked with?<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

This is my first role as a Developer so working with clients is still very new to me, but HMRC is the biggest that I\u2019m likely to be working with. Prior to this role I was the Head of Science at a secondary school so although I am used to working with external companies, usually they are delivering a service rather than me being the one responsible!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What’s the best bit about your job?<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

I love the flexibility and work\/life balance this job has given me. I can choose to work from home or to wander into either of the two offices where I’m met with smiling faces. I can take a lunch break at any time (given that it is suitable to the client), which is very handy when I have a needy dog who likes a 2pm walk! This is the first role I have had where it feels like working hours are respected, giving me time for hobbies and a social life again!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What’s Mercator Digital like to work for?<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The people! Every single person, including the CEO, is approachable which I find really humbling. I haven’t worked for any other company where I have felt so comfortable asking questions and attending social events with, which considering for the first two months I’d largely met people on teams, is a credit to the company. Sunday evening, when I used to dread the fact that Monday was hours away, is now just another evening. I know that whatever happens over the next week I’ll be supported and learning something new – which I have Mercator to thank for!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Any advice for people wanting a job like yours?<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

I would say that although a tech background might help, it is not essential! Career changes into tech are entirely feasible on the basis you have a growth mindset and are willing to put in the hard work – as I guarantee you will have setbacks which you will need to push through.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

April Garlington gives us a quick insight into being a Scala Developer, changing careers and advice for anyone interested in […]<\/p>","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":806,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"categories":[73],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-579","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-1-min-insight"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mercatordigital.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/579","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mercatordigital.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mercatordigital.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mercatordigital.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mercatordigital.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=579"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.mercatordigital.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/579\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mercatordigital.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/806"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mercatordigital.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=579"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mercatordigital.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=579"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mercatordigital.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=579"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}