In our new blog series, we would like to introduce women who work at PriceHubble in the areas of tech and engineering. We would like to show what their career paths have been so far, what their daily work looks like, what they are particularly interested in and why they enjoy working at PriceHubble.
Today we are talking to Cécile Gontier, Full Stack Developer at PriceHubble.
Hello Cécile! Tell me something about yourself?
I am Cécile, 26 years old and living in Paris. I studied engineering and mathematics and fell in love with software development during an internship in Singapore. I spent my last year of university specialising in software development and then did an end-of-study internship in this field before joining PriceHubble. So, the job at PriceHubble is my first real full-time job.
What was your dream job as a child?
I wanted to become a mathematics researcher.
You have been at PriceHubble since November 2019. What is your role?
I am a Full Stack Developer at PriceHubble. That means I create the solutions for the web interface. Whatever the user sees and everything that happens behind it, like the APIs or the back end, that’s part of my job.
Can you share a little bit about what it is that you do and what a typical day for you looks like?
On a typical day, I work on a ticket with a task, which represents something the user needs, like a new feature or the improvement of an existing feature. My work then usually consists of developing an API, which will make some data available, then creating the front end for the feature, following the design chosen to display the data. All this requires writing code and then testing it of course. Not all can be done in one day and usually, we work in sprints, so we have three-week time budgets that we fill with the different features. Another part of my daily work is reviewing the tasks my colleagues have done. That way, we all help each other. We also discuss future products we want to add to the platform.
Did you always know that working in tech was what you wanted to do? What made you pursue a career in tech?
No, I wanted to be a researcher, which is something completely different. Then I got accepted to an engineering school, which helped me discover new fields of work. The technical field appealed to me the most, and I fell in love with development during an internship.
Most technical courses are still predominantly taken by men, and thus there are still few women in tech and engineering. Did you have the impression you were treated differently as a woman?
No, never actually. I feel quite lucky.
Do you notice a lack of women in tech? If so, why do you think that’s the case?
There is definitely a lack of women. In my engineering school, for example, there were fewer women than men, and that is also the case here at PriceHubble. I can’t explain why. It’s something I enjoy, but maybe women are intimidated by the technical part of the job. Many probably think that you sit alone in front of three screens in a dark room all day, but that’s not the case at all. There is a lot of interaction with other people.
What advice would you give to a woman considering a career in the tech industry?
I think that in tech it is really important to always remember that you are working for the user and not just for the technology itself. It’s important of course to always stay up to date with technologies, but always question whether a technology is suitable for the feature. This is not just advice for women, of course, but for engineers in general.
The only advice I have for women is to be open to discovering new jobs and to be curious about the reality of jobs in the tech sector, which are often much more exciting than they might initially sound on paper.
What do you like most about working at PriceHubble, and what motivates you every day?
I really enjoy getting feedback from our users, hearing that they liked a feature and that it’s well received. Then I know I am doing something that really matters.
Developing new solutions for our users and helping the app grow even more motivates me. I have been here for more than two years now and have seen how the app has evolved, and I want to see how it will develop in the next few years as well.
Do you have a favourite feature?
My favourite features are the ones that I developed myself end-to-end. One of them, for example, is the feature to select «Comparables». When it was finished, I was very proud of it. It was a great achievement for me. I also remember the first feature I worked on, which was to add the search bar in the Dossiers list.
What do you do in your free time? Do you sit a lot at the computer as well?
No, not at all. I like to cook, sew and design escape games with my fiancé.
Thank you very much, Cécile, for the interview! We look forward to many new features from you in the future.
