Meet Michał, Daniel, and Mateusz – three programmers who referred each other to Clurgo over the course of several years. And they’re still with us! Their backgrounds may differ, but they have one thing in common – the belief that Clurgo is the place to stay.

How did you meet?

Michał: Clurgo sent me to work on a project for a company. Daniel was an employee there.

Daniel: We were sitting next to each other. Companions in misery.

Was something wrong?

Michał: The project was huge and used old technologies. It was hard to wrap your head around it.

How did Daniel wind up at Clurgo?

Daniel: It wasn’t until two years later. In the meantime, I changed jobs, and Michał continued working at Clurgo. But we kept in touch.

Did you hang out together?

Daniel: That would have been difficult, since Michał lived in Łódź, and I was in Warsaw. But we chatted on Messenger.

Michał: Commiserating over that project of ours.

Daniel: Then the two years passed and Michał writes to me that Clurgo is looking for someone to work on an interesting project. I applied – and here we are.

Do you have any shared memories?

Michał: Apart from seeing each other at team retreats, we go on business trips together because of working on the same project. We’ve traveled to Oslo, for example.

Which one of you has the longest stint at Clurgo?

Michał: I joined around the time of World Cup 2018, so that would make it… four years now.

Seems like a long time, considering the industry.

Michał: Maybe. But I feel comfortable here. The atmosphere is nice, and I’m at ease. And I can tell from past experience that Clurgo has all the pros of a corporate job, without any of the cons.

Can you expand on that?

Michał: Frankly speaking, I can only see one upside in a corporate job: you get free English classes. It’s not a standard in software houses, but in Clurgo we do enjoy this opportunity.
What about the downsides?

Michał: In my experience, corporations have an arbitrary career ladder that has little to do with real-life competence. Oftentimes, a corporate senior won’t even have mid-level skills.

Mateusz: It’s a bit different here. Our projects conform to the best possible standards, not just in terms of programming. There are no bad practices, and you can be sure the skills gained here will matter in the job market.

Daniel: To me, another thing that sets Clurgo apart is the wide range of projects we do. In one of my previous companies, I had to stick to one project all the time because there were no alternatives. At Clurgo, on the other hand, you have options.

Michał: Of course, sometimes you can’t change much because clients are scarce. But you can always let the manager know that something’s up. When it comes to me, I am in my third project in the company. This is something I really appreciate: the variety, the fact that I don’t have to type away at the same thing all the time.

Daniel: Performance reviews also look different at Clurgo than elsewhere. Before, my reviews were all copy-and-paste affairs. They were written in such a way that really anybody could fit the description. Here, I get individual feedback directly from the manager – in my case, from Piotr Drajski.

And the promotions?

Michał: There’s no artificial ladder here like there is in corporations. At Clurgo, the structure is flat. But you can often work some things out, as Daniel did.

Daniel: It’s true. After six months, one of the DevOps left my project, and I filled the spot.

So you vouch for what Michael says about Clurgo?

Daniel: Totally. So much so that I also got Mateusz in here.

How do you know each other?

Daniel: We used to play CS together. When we found out our jobs were similar, we started talking about it during the matches.

Mateusz: At the time I was working for a small product company. The team consisted of about a dozen people. I liked it there, but I didn’t see any avenue for further development.

How did Daniel recommend Clurgo to you?

Mateusz: The main selling point was the use of new technologies, plus the approach to work I mentioned before: adhering to the best standards in the industry.

And did it check out?

Mateusz: Absolutely.

What would you say to someone before they interviewed at Clurgo?

Mateusz: Chill out. In other companies, recruiters often ask deliberately tough questions to show off that they know the answers. Here, no one pressures you if they see that something isn’t your strong suit.

Anything else you liked?

Daniel: The speed – I heard back in two or three days. Compared to other companies, that’s very fast.