Get to know: The Kiwi.com Bratislava office
The Kiwi.com office in Bratislava is located below the castle, near the Danube river. In a 15 minute walk, you are in the historical centre. Our Kiwis say that the beauty of having lunch on the riverside directly in front of the office is wonderful and if the weather is decent, you can see the green fields of Hungary and Austria from the office window!
Teams and projects in Bratislava
The Kiwi.com office in Bratislava was established in May 2019 and today has almost 30 people working there. As mentioned previously in the interview with a previous Bratislava Site lead, Tomáš Majer, the main focus of the Bratislava office is engineering, from Frontend to Backend including Infrastructure engineers, Analysts and Data engineers. It’s technically quite diverse and people can work pretty much on everything Kiwi.com related from the Bratislava office. What does the office look like in reality?
Put simply, at the Bratislava office we’re focussing on various data initiatives that help us to be more data-driven and make critical business decisions based on data. For example:
- The Platform teams (Software, Infrastructure, Data) are supporting our production engineering in making top notch products with ease. They automate unnecessary processes, manage infrastructure, develop custom tooling, unify conventions across the company and most importantly they make the life of an engineer easier.
- The Flights API team is taking care of the search engine. The better the results, the happier the customer is. More specifically, our colleagues work on a search engine, which looks into our huge database of available flights. Based on users’ requests, it selects the best options to show to our users. We are working mainly with Python and Go in these teams. We are focusing on pricing and building better routes within airlines and ground transport.
- Project “Account” is one of the basic features of every app. With that new approach, we can provide better UX and improve user retention.
- The Mobile teams are trying to bring the best user experience of our product for mobile users.
We are also working on internal integrations between systems that we are using in Kiwi.com to make everyone more productive and happy.
When we say Kiwi.com, our Bratislava colleagues think of…
Trust, plenty of opportunities, a pleasant working environment and a great atmosphere. The possibility to share new ideas, transparency as well as open-minded and friendly people. Technology! Many interesting problems to solve while receiving constant help from your colleagues work or not only work-related. Home office, flexibility, a sense of community… and a lot of fun.
Mário Hunka, Platform Data Products Team Lead mentioned the importance of the relaxed atmosphere that has been created in Bratislava.
“Our office is very cool because I can come to work by bike and store it safely. There is bicycle storage provided and shower facilities so I can freshen up. There is also a gym!” said Mário. Mario said that his biggest motivation for work comes from solving technical and interesting problems, and from the freedom to do this in a way he believes is best for the company.
“There is always space to suggest new ideas. It doesn’t matter what project you work on, if you want to work, you can do it from anywhere. We’re very open, it was like that even before COVID-19.” explained Mário.
The spirit of belonging to the Bratislava office
While walking throughout the office in pre-Covid times, you could easily find quiet areas to focus and work. There are plenty of unoccupied meeting rooms for calls or meetings. Apart from the regular sight of people working from their desks, walking around the office with a cup of coffee in their hands, having a chat in the corridor; you sometimes spot people playing Nintendo or building Lego spread all over non-occupied desks. “What is the deal with Lego” we asked?
“Well, after an exhausting day of coding, we like to relax in various ways… and one of them is by building Lego! We’re very active so we also organize tech meetups or Python weekends, gather for free breakfasts which helps us to connect more, and yes, we like to party as well.” mentioned Mário.
Slack (a collaboration tool) has definitely helped with during Lockdown. Before Covid, there were numerous activities occurring and being organised breaks including hikes, bike trips, pub meetups, etc. Since lockdown, these activities have been curtailed and creative online alternative activities have been initiated.
Marek Gálik, iOS Developer believes that regardless of whether you’re an early bird or a night owl, you can work from our office. You will almost certainly find others working at that hour; if not inside the office then from some other location in Kiwi.com.
“You’re never alone because the Kiwi.com culture allows us to work whenever we want. We have something that is truly called a community in our Bratislava office and you can feel it whenever you are there. You can see it when you go to the kitchen and find a birthday cake from a colleague, or when someone shares traditional sweets brought from traveling. You can feel it in informal chats with your colleagues. These details make the Bratislava office what it is, it’s the feeling of being part of something special – a spirit of belonging”, said Marek.
Get to know more about Kiwi.com Bratislava office
Get to know more about the Bratislava office and check out the interview with our previous Bratislava office site lead Tomáš Majer.
Are you interested in open positions in the Bratislava office?
We selected for you the most interesting positions where you can learn, grow and also be challenged. Check the role of Javascript Engineer, Android Engineer, iOS Engineer, Data Platform Engineer, and a Python Engineer for Finance Tribe.