The perks of being a software engineer in a product-led company

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Let us introduce Kasper Henriksson, our software engineer since the beginning of 2022. This is his journey and takes on the previous months of building our product - a business listings management software. 

Ever since I was young, I’ve had an interest in tech, which led me to Aalto University and later on to be a software developer for a consulting company. Since coming to the product-led Mobal, I've had a reassuring feeling that I've landed in the right place. This blog post is my take on the perks of being a product software engineer. I hope I can impart some wisdom and encouragement to others thinking of taking the leap from consulting to a product-focused tech company. 

Before jumping into my why’s, I want to highlight that starting my career in a consulting company isn’t something I’ve come to regret. The adjustability of the projects and the customers I had the opportunity to work with gave me valuable learnings for my current role.

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“There was still something missing.” 

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One of the biggest differences between being a software engineer in consulting and a product-led company is the goal we work towards. In a consulting company, the goal is to fix a problem or execute a development need for a customer, which is being done solely with the customer. When again, in a product company you are closely working as a committed team to create a software solution that solves a larger target audience's need. Managing software corrections and potential updates based on a seamless feedback loop is also an important part of software engineering in a product company. 

“In a product company, you are closely working as a committed team to create a software solution that solves a larger target audience’s need.”

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Having a shared goal creates an unbeatable team spirit and support culture, which are the things I’ve cherished the most during my time in a product-led company. 

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Freedom and ownership

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Freedom and ownership are included in the factors that have played a part in my journey to land in the right place. In a product-led company, you take ownership of assigned tasks, which naturally leads to responsibility but also flexibility and freedom.

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At Mobal, I’m able to work at the office or remotely according to my schedule because our team operates inclusively, regardless of where anyone is physically located. You really have the opportunity to struck up a balance between your work and personal life.  

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My last, and probably most important factor is the direct result and impact we create with the software solution our team builds. In other words, the work we do is directly going to use, which makes our work valuable and motivating. It’s super exciting to create solutions that make other people’s work more effective and efficient. Nothing beats seeing the work that you do come to life. Especially when there is a joint effort together with the super users.

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“We are able to create solutions that make other people’s work more effective and efficient.“

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Not to mention the feedback loop the direct usage of the product is creating, which is, as mentioned an important part of a tech team in a product-led company. Every request, need and suggestion comes directly from the software users so you know they make sense. This makes the process of building the best possible software solution a joint effort with the direct users, which again enlightens the team spirit and the result that comes with it. 

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After these months at Mobal I’ve realized what I value in my work as a software engineer; team spirit, a shared vision and goal, direct user feedback that creates concrete requests, unlimited support, and seeing the work you create in use. 

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If you’re looking for a tech position in a product-led company, you’ve landed in the right place. Mobal is a fast-growing Start up providing a marketing software solution, helping businesses manage their business listings and Google Business profiles.

We’re on an incredible journey to rapidly build our platform and scale our team internationally. At the moment, we are building and going to market with world-class business listings management software. 🚀  Let our Tech Lead, Jonatan von Martens (jonatan@mobal.io) know if you are interested in joining us or if you have any questions.

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