Life as a Software Engineer

In August I was preparing to start as a Software Engineering Trainee at Lime. It was my first job after studying and I was anxious because my student life was coming to an end. I now realize instead that I have an amazing future ahead!

After my studies, I knew I wanted to become a Software Engineer and I had heard many good things about the graduate traineeship. It enables graduates to learn as much as possible during their first year as a professional while sharing the experience with others in a similar situation. Lime, with its great culture and career opportunities, could offer me both. Just a few interviews and a case study stood between me and my dream job. I had a strong feeling that the Lime was the right fit for me. A feeling that was reinforced during the interview process, making Lime a clear choice for me.

The first stage of training took place at the Lund office. There were 26 of us and during the five weeks, we all learned how to become a true “Limer”. We, the Trainees, were divided into Account Managers, Project Managers, Application Consultants, and Software Engineers, which gave us the opportunity to learn the interaction between the roles in different projects. During the final weeks, we were trained within our roles so we were prepared for getting into the real work.

Various activities outside working hours allowed participants to develop strong bonds, which means that we all have a very good relationship today. When the first period was over, we all returned to our respective offices in Lund, Gothenburg, Stockholm, Oslo, Copenhagen, and Helsinki. It was finally time to begin working on live projects and to look forward to our trainee reunions during the coming year. The trainee period lasts 12 months and during that time, the trainees meet at intervals for further training and fellowship.

A university education only touches upon important subject areas within IT and it is now time for a trainee to deepen their knowledge and link it to working life. As a Software Engineering Trainee, you will learn the most important building blocks of software development under the guidance of our awesome colleagues.

Do you know how to write clean code, and how it can be achieved through test driven development? Do you have knowledge of continuous integration and version management? Either way, you should learn everything that we know. One of our high lights is renting a cottage to have a team getaway. There we get to indulge in hackathons, and get to know each other even better. Our cottage outings are epic!

The Engineering department is located in Lund, so the Lund office is my home base. I work with the web client of our product Lime CRM, and my team inhabits one of the two so-called lofts on the third floor. The lofts are cozy rooms with sloping ceilings and skylights on top of either side of the main building.

We start the morning at our Kanban board with a stand-up meeting, to get an overview of today’s work. We work agilely in close collaboration with our Product Manager to achieve the best results, as smoothly as possible. In our work process, we strive for high code quality through code reviews, continuous integration, and a solid testing process. Every Wednesday, we have weekly meetings where we sit in our colorful “Fatboys” and find out what is happening with our teams and our product. My team works with various features in the web client and since I started here, I have mostly coded in Python on the backend page.

I think that Lime has a big advantage, in that the engineering department is not that large, making it easier for engineers to vary their tasks. As a software engineer, you are not put in a compartment but have the choice to work on both frontend and backend projects. At lunchtime, you meet all your colleagues downstairs in the kitchen, either heating their lunch boxes or going out to nearby eateries. Every day at 15.00, the kitchen is a gathering place for coffee and socializing. Come and hang out in the comfortable sofas or keep your first place in FIFA until work calls again.

If you have not felt it yet, then you should know that the culture is absolutely fantastic at Lime. Here, everyone has lunch with everyone, and it is a close community whether you are a software engineer or an account manager. Add to that the challenging tasks, competent and helpful colleagues, and being met every day by a warm and welcoming atmosphere where everyone knows everyone, you can’t help but look forward to work every morning.

When I left my student life, I never thought I would find the same feeling again, but Lime has something special. I feel I will stay here for a long time; there is space for both personal growth and career development.

What do you value?