The good, the bad and the awesome of being a Young Gun Tech

This article was written by Tania Zúñiga, SRE & DevOps Engineer at Pipefy, working remotely from Mexico. 

I think it is time to share my experience with a very interesting program that I have participated in at Pipefy, that may help other people in the future not only to be part of it as well, but to also help shape future programs to come. The program that I am talking about is called YGT, or Young Gun Tech, a Pipefy project, and I was part of the first version of it – which ended in 2021. I want to talk about the good, the bad and the awesome of being a YGT.

First of all, you need to know what the program is. The YGT is a one-year program that Pipefy organizes for beginner software engineers and developers. During a whole year you get to work with the most experienced “honey badgers” (that’s how we call ourselves at Pipefy) to create an intuitive product and to empower all Pipefy customers. It’s really enriching.

One of the greatest advantages of this program is the opportunity to be a developer in the area of your own preference or even try different areas to find your favorite. In addition to the fact that you work with very experienced people, you will surely learn something new every day.

The good

• We are talking about a fully remote workplace here, unless you are working from Pipefy headquarters in Curitiba (Brazil) – and that’s even optional for the Brazilians. So at first it may seem strange or you could maybe feel alone but little by little you will get used to it and you will realize how incredible it is to work remotely, from anywhere you want. This was very helpful for me because I did not have to spend time going to an office so I was able to continue studying at the university while working at Pipefy! Also this gave me the chance to meet people from all over the world at Pipefy too, learning about their own cultures and needs.

• I was considered part of the team and not just another apprentice. I remember being in several meetings with the whole team discussing the steps for the next project and then having an idea, sharing it right away. And it would be taken into account, over and over again! I was afraid that because I was an apprentice I wouldn’t be able to give my opinion in those meetings or my comments wouldn’t really be taken into account, but it was nothing like that! On the contrary, I always felt actively part of the team.

The bad

• So, we need to talk about how the onboarding worked when I joined the program. It seemed overwhelming to me, with many new terms, new procedures to follow and many things to remember in a short time. But fortunately onboarding has changed a bunch since then and today it is much easier to digest.

• The program for trainees outside of Brazil does not have as many benefits as the Brazilian does, and the last edition of YGT even happened only for Brazilians. You have to consider that the company is global indeed, but the great part of its employees and physical office are all still in Brazil.

The awesome

• The opportunity to try a little bit of everything is fantastic! If you don’t know what part of software engineering you like, this can help you choose – and it is a remarkable feature for beginners who are still trying new things and have not decided their complete career path yet. While I was a YGT I had the opportunity to be a front-end, backend and SRE engineer. Thanks to that I was able to know what it is to be SRE and truly practice it as my job, and I am still enjoying it.

• To be very honest here, Pipefy has such an amazing culture! If you have ever heard about a blameless culture, in Pipefy, that is a reality. Everyone is just so respectful with the work of others and the teamwork is really there. The values ​​of the company are also reflected by all of the engineers, and they are very positive values, instigating teamwork, diversity, inclusion, taking the initiative and just generally being kind. We need more of that in tech, especially toward beginners.