Meet Markus Sturmberger, Front End Developer at Bitpanda

“I like the flexibility and how Bitpanda gives you control over your own projects”

Markus is a front end developer for the web app at Bitpanda. He, along with his team of four, is responsible for big features such as the BEST fee collection functionality, along with bug fixing and general maintenance of our products.

Congratulations on the launch of the BEST fee collection feature! I heard it all went smoothly.
Yeah, that’s something we’ve been working on for months and it went really well. It makes all the work worthwhile when we get such a great reaction. In fact, since our launch, we’ve had a surge of positive responses from our users and many are already paying trading fees with BEST with no problems. So we can safely say the launch was a huge success!

What was it like to be given such a huge responsibility? Does your team work better under close management or are you more self-sufficient?
We’re extremely self-sufficient. Even when distributing the tasks, it's more like “okay here is a list of the tasks that need to be done, just grab what you want” and it works for us! And it’s the same for a feature launch: our team-lead asks who wants to do it and then people can say “I feel confident that I can do this!” And then you’re pretty much in charge of that project. Which is incredible because I don't think you have this kind of opportunity in other companies.

Yeah, it’s crazy to think that this feature is something that is used by thousands of our users every day and you made it happen. It’s huge!
Exactly, it also makes you a little nervous because it’s such a huge responsibility.

What were you doing before you joined Bitpanda?
I used to do something completely different. I got a master’s degree in Molecular Biology, so I’ve only been a programmer for over a year now. I started at Bitpanda as a junior and I was given the opportunity to work my way up and grow a lot in such a short time.

So what made you decide to switch from molecular biology to a career in fintech?
Well, while studying my degree I thought to myself “hmm I don't feel like this is really for me, but it’s going to get better when I specialise.” And then during my master's thesis, I was finally like “okay now I know this isn’t for me!” Only took me ten years to realise! (laughs)

When you apply for a dev position at Bitpanda, you have to complete a coding test. Can you tell us what kind of test is this?
It’s checking for a basic understanding of the programming language and to test your problem-solving skills. This is the most important thing because it shows how self-sufficient you are and that's how you will be selected. You can learn how to work our codebase, but self-sufficiency is a skill set you should already have.

So what do you think about the work environment?
I like the flexibility. I was really happy with how the time management system works and how you are given control over your own projects from the get-go. Because that’s something that’s not normal in other workplaces. What counts is the work that you do and if the work is good then it will be acknowledged.

Do you need to know a lot about cryptocurrency?
No not at all! I didn’t know a lot about it before applying. The important thing is that you're interested in it as a topic. For example, I'm mainly interested in how they’re bringing other assets into the digital space, which is why I was so excited that Bitpanda Metals was the first feature that I worked on.

My last question is what advice would you give a future applicant?
Be independent, show initiative and don't be afraid to ask questions! Because asking questions is how we know you're interested and willing to learn.

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