As work goes on for me in the products department’s mobile team it is really fun to see VIA GO Android (and iOS) take shape more and more as a finished product for the upcoming release later this year. But besides day to day work with development I would like to tell you all a little more about the new stuff I’m learning and about how Accedo is going about enabling this.

A big part of Accedo’s trainee program is about evolving and gaining a lot of new knowledge. A great foundation for learning new things and handling new contexts is understanding oneself: What are your personal strengths, weaknesses, ambitions, approach to problem solving etc? Us trainees completed a Myers-Briggs inspired questionnaire to formulate a common platform for understanding and discussion. This was really interesting for me because there were a lot of questions I usually don’t think about. Some slightly uncomfortable but useful in the terms that it really got me thinking about myself, my approaches and ways of thinking. Since there are no right or wrong answers in these types of assessments I could be really honest and they mostly serve as way of self discovery. Also, this is a great foundation for further discussions with our respective mentors. We will compare and share our results (they have also done the assessment) to help find a suitable task for my next trainee assignment and role in the company further down the road.

But these kinds of learning opportunities are not exclusive for just trainees! The products department has a newly developed (and fast growing!) internal training program. Here anybody in the department can attend and take part in internal training sessions. With topics ranging from team dynamics and improving work processes to very techy stuff like an introduction to a new JavaScript framework or a new build process tool. Trainings I personally have attended during the last two weeks include Team dynamics and Feedback, Risk management for teams, The agile processes were striving for among others. During these trainings I learned a lot about the importance of good team dynamics and how to give constructive feedback in the best way. Every person is different and it is important to understand this to be able to work well together. I see that I’am already getting good use of these new learnings as I think my team is now more effective and working better together then previously. I also feel that knowing how to give constructive feedback will be useful for me going forward and joining other teams down the road. Now it’s time for the Halloween weekend!

//Gustav