Teamwork and great experience - FlexiTime's Summer of Tech story
Over the past six years, a team of Summer of Tech alumni have built three complete SaaS products from scratch that now have tens of thousands of users. The young developers have gained experience they could have only dreamed of when they started their SoT journey.
From humble beginningsIt all started back in 2014 when Michael became the first SoT intern to join FlexiTime. Fast forward six years and he’s still there, along with five other SoT alumni that make up the entire FlexiTime dev team.FlexiTime is a Wellington-based technology company that builds software solutions to simplify employment. Their Summer of Tech journey began when Michael helped build their first mobile app, one that enabled employees to enter timesheets into the FlexiTime payroll system.Since then the business has been through a complete transformation. Their talented team has redeveloped a legacy system into new products and apps across three categories - NZ payroll, time billing and scheduling software.A great experienceGina joined the FlexiTime team as an intern in 2017, turning down offers from some higher profile companies because she could see the opportunity to gain a wider range of practical experience during an internship at FlexiTime.
For Gina, the Summer of Tech experience was amazing. “All of the support we received as students looking for work was outstanding and it far exceeded my expectations. Knowing there were lots of other students in the same boat as you with the same nerves and excitement was comforting.”Like every SoT intern to join FlexiTime so far, Gina accepted a permanent position after her internship came to an end. “I had an immediate connection with the team at FlexiTime, from the very first chat at the Meet & Greet. They were so friendly and easy to talk to and I had a good feeling about the place right from the start.” she says.A team effortRobbie joined the FlexiTime team in 2015 from Summer of Tech. Just a few short years later he’s one of the leaders in the dev team, with responsibility for all new product releases. “The advantage of joining a smaller team in a fast growing business is the opportunity to get involved in all aspects of development. We all have our areas of specialisation, but we’ve been learning new languages together and across the team there’s always someone who can jump in to help out when needed.”Being involved in full stack development across three different products has been a steep, but exciting learning curve for Gina. “The skills I learned at uni were the building blocks that enabled me to pick up the new languages at FlexiTime. The team here has been so supportive and the early mentoring process set me up for success,” she says.
For Michael, the best thing about the job is the variety and the wide range of challenges. “We very much learn by doing here. There’s a lot going on with such fast-paced development, but we’re encouraged to give things a go and trusted to do a great job.”What’s next?This year the FlexiTime team is seeking two SoT interns to join their fun and high performing team as they grow the business into its next phase. Gina has some words of advice for this year’s SoT intake: “Be yourself and have fun, the more relaxed you can be at the SoT events the better. Employers know you’re not the best developer in the world yet, they’re looking for someone who is going to be a great addition to their team, with a willingness to learn.”
