A really nice place to work

Although Portugal-based backend developer Telmo Teixeira has just spent a couple of months working for us in Dekode, he’s already knee-deep in some of our most important work. That’s ok, though: Telmo want’s to be master of all trades.

Hi! Who are you, and what is your role at Dekode?

Hi! I’m Telmo, I’m a developer from Lisbon. I’ve been in the tech industry for about 5-6 years. I started as a freelancer, but I didn’t enjoy it that much. Before joining Dekode I was at a small agency, here in Lisbon. 

How has your first few months been at Dekode?

It’s been awesome! I didn’t really know what to expect, but it turns out Dekode is a really nice place to work. The technical level is really high – that’s why I made the job change. The humane level is great too. I’m on a very cool team, and enjoy working together with designeres, prosjekt managers, advisors and other developers. Everybody has been very supportive, and the integration has been super nice. All in all, I’m super happy.

My colleagues have been friendly, and it really seems that they care for one each other here. It amazed me, because I didn’t expect the level of humane attention considering Dekodes size and amount of co-workers. 

Where did you learn your craft?

I learned my craft from the web. Even though I majored in social sciences at the university,  I’ve always enjoyed the tech-side of life. I learned my developer skills from online courses and online tutorials. I started out just helping friends and family, and would later start as a freelance developer. And now I’m here. 

What is your expertise, and what are your work goals? 

Well, my expertise is backend, the PHP-side of WordPress. Lately I’ve been trying to learn more about frontend, the part you actually see. I’m interested in creating cool and beautiful websites and what goes on behind them as well, a fullstack developer. Be master of all trades, so to speak. 

So, you’re working remotely from Portugal. How is that working out? Would you recommend it to others?

Yeah, definitely. Even though I live 20 km from Lisbon, the commute is actually horrendous, so I’ve always worked remotely my whole tech career. 

What would you say are the biggest differences for a Norwegian company, compared to a Portuguese company? Both culture wise and professionally. 

Well, for me – definitely communication. Everything is in english, and I don’t know if it’s a cultural thing or not, but Norwegian developers seem to communicate much more. It‘s quite paradoxical though – I’m situated and working from miles away and I’ve never felt more integrated in a company than I feel now. That’s a really good thing. 

What kind of projects are you working on right now?

Right now I’m working on an integration for Advokatene hjelper deg. I’m upgrading their lawyer database, making it work properly for their new WordPress site. They are revamping their database in order to improve the search function, getting a better representation of their lawyers, and what they specialize in. 

Have you learned any Norwegian yet? 

Yeah, well not much. I’m trying to, at least. In the end it will be practical, terminology wise. So far I know my way around the Norwegian fauna: Hest (horse), hund (dog),  katt (cat), elg (elk) and bjørn (bear). 

Fun fact: We have a bear here in Portugal – not one kind of bear or one species of bear, just a single one. When it crossed the border from Spain into Portugal a few years ago it made the news.

Are you planning to move to Norway?

No, not yet. Although I think my wife would enjoy it 🙂

Do you want to work with Telmo and the rest of us here at Dekode? Drop us a line at [email protected]