My journey at Lastbit/Striga
From a small town in India to coding in -17 degrees Celsius.
It has been more than 2 years from today. I started as a back-end developer at Lastbit.
Today is the first of 2022. I would like to share my journey as part of the Lastbit team. I stumbled on Lastbit on Angel list when I was looking for a job in companies with a small team and a vision. Being passionate about Bitcoin, I was inclined to the companies working on this technology. Lastbit was the perfect option. Young founder, small team with young and smart developers.
As an employee, I had certain expectations. I had my doubts. The things I wanted were more learning, decent work life balance, more responsibility, the work I did should impact on the company's growth. I had all these.
I never had to put extra time into building my skills. The work demanded continuous learning. When I joined Lastbit, I was an early stage developer. Writing code for handling real world money seems to be a responsible role. I did mistakes. Terrible ones, learned the hard way. Still learning to do better.
The motivation for me to work is the impact I make on a company's growth. Since it is a company with very few members, everyone’s work matters. Being a full-time back-end developer for a fin-tech company feels great. I didn’t ever have to force myself to work when required. It was always fun to work.
Initial one and half years, we live and work in the same place. It is very different. Initially, I was a little skeptical about it. It was fun. I had my privacy. At Lastbit, we have no timings. The work is done not because we are asked about our progress, but because we understand the need and work accordingly. I take long afternoon naps everyday. I was never asked to work at such and such time. I worked whenever I wanted. Many times, I went out in the middle of the day to meet my friends. To get the work done was the only criteria. We also had a few sleepless nights. We worked hard when it was required. We chilled whenever the work was less.
I never felt like an employee-employer relation with the CEO. We are all good friends. We went out almost every day. For breakfast, lunch. We went to the gym together. We hosted parties and invited our friends. It was fun living and working here. We had been on a trip to Goa. We worked and chilled there for a week. It was an awesome trip. We worked, partied, and chilled. The drive was awesome.
Glimse of our journey :
We are a multi-cultured team. People from three continents working together. We co-coordinated online and were able to build products and release in hard pandemic situations. Everyone is passionate about what we are building, with a strong conviction of making it successful.
It is a huge learning experience being part of the small company, dealing with uncertainties and legal hurdles, watching it grow from the initial stage to the present stage. Thanks to the founders ( Prashanth B and Bernardo ). They made it transparent for the team members to be aware of company’s status, hurdles and plans.
Later 2021, we moved our office to Tallinn, Estonia. I had never been out of India before. It was the first time I got on a flight to travel abroad. Having spent my entire life in a small town in India, now living in the developed country, it is a huge change. It is never a forgettable experience. Tallinn is beautiful. Quiet and less crowded. Cold, but got used to it and does not bother anymore.
Finally, team under the same roof. It has been 45 days since we started working together. It has been treat to be in person with these people. I am glad I am surrounded with people who are smarter than me. Productive work hours, happy lunch times, and few party weekends.
The feeling of being an employee is long-forgotten. Now, it is being part of the team that is aligned to accomplish the same objective. I believe in this team, founders and the vision in making it a successful journey. I did not have to think much about my 2022 goals. Very happy to be part of this team. Starting this new year in a new country, new products, with a new perspective. Happy new year!