Irfan - Solution Engineer at Alfa

Having spent my academic life in a highly specialised engineering field, it came as a shock to some that I had a desire to switch to career paths. After my PhD, I evaluated what I wanted to get from a future career and there were several factors that were important to me:

* A challenging job that would allow me to utilise my problem solving skills, and allow me to continue learning
* Working with highly talented colleagues and variety of clients
* An employer that recognises the importance of culture and social impact
* Working with the latest technologies
* Good career prospects with respect to opportunity and financial reward

What particularly attracted me to Alfa was their approach of taking on bright people, and giving them the training they need whilst on the job. There was no expectation that I learnt to code myself. There is a 6 week boot camp for all new joiners during which they learn about coding in Java, and the software that Alfa creates. Importantly, the support doesn’t cease at the end of the boot camp, there is a real sense of “a problem shared is a problem halved”, which is a great attitude for a company to have.

I have been at Alfa for over 3 years now and I can honestly say it has delivered on everything I was looking for in my career. I do feel challenged in my role, and there is always something new to learn about. I have had the opportunity to work with brilliant colleagues and clients as far away as the Nordics, and Africa. What has particularly stood out to me more recently, is how well we have adapted to working remotely. The company has become a lot more embracing of working from home lifestyles, but more importantly, there are still many who can’t wait for the office to reopen and for us to continue our strong working culture in person.