&Open’s engineering team shares their passion, challenges, and learnings in creating a scalable gifting platform

We could write all day about what makes working at &Open such a joy, but we thought it was better for you to hear it from the team members themselves. If you like what you read below, take a look at our open roles here.

Working with a senior team with great leaders has been a great experience. Ross and Fintan have always been clear with results they want, and expectations and communication are always clear. I worked with them before &Open (Commutable) and was sure this was a good choice.

Starting out by working on a well-known brand like Airbnb was really interesting, especially being part of the team implementing the #airbnblove project from scratch and seeing it grow to this point. I’ve been involved since the early stages, and I take a lot of pride in seeing the company grow and do well.

What I love about being here are the engineering challenges — I personally love complicated, technical tasks with challenges. We have a modern stack with a decent code-base quality and attention, no legacy or substantial technical debt, and we’re shipping new features all the time.

There are plenty of areas to learn from as we have strong BE expertise, FE, devops, and QA, and lately, I’ve been practicing spoken English a lot during numerous calls.

Something that immediately appealed to me about &Open was that it is a start-up and I knew I would develop a close family-like bond with my colleagues. I also loved the kawaii feel of all the designs, the web pages, and the gifts.

I like the fact that I can be creative and wear multiple hats. And I really love the team. Everyone is so supportive and my manager Fintan helps with all my questions, even the silly ones, with a smile on his face.

What drew me to &Open at first was the mission. It’s something I could, and still can, stand behind wholeheartedly. When I first visited the office, I loved it. It reverberated with absolute professionalism and clean design.

Once I got started, I was excited to once again delve deep in my hobby, with much to accomplish.

The work culture is extremely supportive. Managers are keen to figure out your strengths and plan with you accordingly. You’re encouraged to share your every thought and constructive criticism in a professional manner. We’re respected with all our flaws, and only our potentials are considered when we’re given a new task. And, fortunately for me, nuts with opinions are treated kindly.

The software we build empowers people to send and receive gifts around the globe, so not only is it technically rewarding but also something that is wholly positive and fun to work on. It’s a nice cross-section between great software/technology and also really nice tangible/physical gifts.

My role is closely aligned with my existing technical skillset, interests and tech stack. Given we’re also a growing start-up, it allows for good opportunities to grow professionally.

One of my favourite recent features that we developed and launched was digital cash gifting for Airbnb that allows recipients to redeem cash gifts, which are sent directly to their debit card or bank account, typically within 15 minutes.

It gives our clients the ability to send gifts to their customers where a physical gift is not possible or appropriate, and the recipient can have their gift in a matter of minutes. Each gift comes with personalised local recommendations. For example, say a customer can’t get into their Airbnb accommodation, the agent can send them a cash gift instantly by email that can be loaded onto their bank card with suggestions to grab lunch/coffee while it’s sorted out.

We also give gift recipients the choice to donate their gift to a selection of charities instead of choosing a material or digital gift — it’s nice to know the software we build empowers people to donate to charity as an alternative to receiving a gift for themselves.

The work is challenging, but sitting alongside experienced team members and mindful people makes for a rewarding experience.

Scaling a business and building a brand is only as special as the people you do it with. And just as our engineers love their teammates and what they’re able to accomplish together, our other teams (e.g. Marketing, Logistics, Finance and more) would stand to say the same.