What it means to be part of the Bitforge team
Bitforge has grown considerably in the last two years and our team has almost doubled in size during this time. The exciting thing is that once you join Bitforge, you stay! We see this as a sign that we are doing something right. But what? We asked the team and put together what motivates us to open our Bitforge laptops every morning.
With us, you (almost) always have something to laugh about. And yes, you can draw on our meeting tables. Picture: Bitforge AG
We want your mustard
Our team currently consists of 19 people and every single one of them has the opportunity to have a say and help shape the direction in which Bitforge continues to develop. We recently held our strategy workshop at Kloster Kappel, where we spent two days working intensively on the future of our agency. Our flat hierarchical structure ensures that everyone (who wants to) can get involved and be heard. That’s motivating!
We want to hear your opinion. That’s why we regularly sit together as a team and discuss how Bitforge can move forward. Picture: Bitforge AG
Do your thing
We place a strong emphasis on personal responsibility and don’t tell our team colleagues how to do their work – after all, we have specialists for everything! “I can figure out how to tackle each task myself – but I always get help if I get stuck,” says Arda, our marketing specialist. Not only can everyone decide for themselves how to work, they can also initiate topics or projects themselves. And learning something new during your daily work is always encouraged. Silio, one of our interaction designers, sums it up nicely. “As a designer, I’m also allowed to experiment and develop myself”. This is also reflected in our working hours: they are flexible and working from home is not a problem. But nobody has to be allowed to do everything.
Getting ahead together. We solve problems as a team. Picture: Bitforge AG
Motivation
We only do projects that we want to do. Accordingly, the motivation for the individual tasks is high and everyone pulls together. We are always learning new things. Everyone involved in a project is fully behind the product and is enthusiastic about what we do. So we don’t have to motivate anyone – the motivation is intrinsic. “Everyone enjoys working here and wants to make a difference,” summarizes Arda.
Depending on the project, different people from the team work together. This brings variety to everyday life. Picture: Bitforge AG
You are the team
“Best team in the world” is how Luca, one of our software developers, sums it up. We have a great team spirit and collegiality is very important to us – anyone can claim that, but it’s true for us. No matter what problem you’re stuck with, there’s always someone to help. Our Slack channel is sometimes very busy and we are always well connected – even when working from home. We meet for regular team lunches (on site or on screen due to the pandemic) and we always celebrate the end of the working day on Thursday evenings. A large part of the team works part-time (everything from 20% to 100% workload is represented) and we make sure that we still meet regularly.
Ah, and there are a few more benefits
It goes without saying that we will always provide you with the latest hardware. But it goes without saying that we also offer discounts on your mobile subscription and a bonus for your sporting activities. But it’s just as much a part of the package as unlimited coffee and beer in our fridge. Our offices are also located in the heart of Zurich’s Kreis 4 district, ten minutes from the main station – unless you prefer to work from home.
Our meeting point: the coffee machine. But we also have tea, don’t worry. And a cupboard full of microwave popcorn. Picture: Bitforge AG
We don't care where you use your laptop
The pandemic has now lasted two years and we also had to be flexible – flexibility is not a problem for us. Everyone was able to work from home immediately during the lockdown and everything worked smoothly. And even now, it is important for us that everyone can decide individually how and where they want to work. Those who want to work in the office are welcome – those who prefer to work from home are allowed to do so. We trust everyone in the team to know best how they can work optimally. And last year, we moved our office to the Glarus mountains without further ado: Our workation in a cozy mountain hut was also a wonderful place to work.
Nobody is perfect
Of course, we are not perfect either and we asked our team about potential for improvement. But very little came back. Only the office organization left something to be desired. In addition, the pandemic has also affected the personal interaction that used to take place in the corridors of Bitforge and mainly at the coffee machine. In any case, we are complaining at a very high level if the only complaint is that we do too few hackathons.
It doesn’t always look this tidy. But we’re working on it! Picture: Bitforge AG
So there are many reasons to work for us. The great team and the team spirit are certainly one of them. Or to put it in the words of Arda: “You get the feeling that everyone at Bitforge gets up in the morning to do awesome sh*t”.
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