INTERVIEW WITH BONA - WEB DEVELOPER AT PHPRO
PHPro is not sitting still. Even this COVID-19 period is not making us stop.
In July, Bona Kim joined us as a web developer. How has she experienced the past few months within PHPro? Because honestly. It wasn't easy to start a new job in the midst of this corona madness.
Are you curious about her story? Then be sure to read on!?!!
Good afternoon Bona, thank you for saving a spot in your calendar. First of all, we would like to congratulate you on your new job at PHPro!
Can you briefly introduce yourself?
Hello, my name is Bona Kim. I have been working at PHPro since mid-July, which is still quite recent.
Four years ago, I moved from South Korea to Belgium. In South Korea, I worked closely with an IT department within my job.
From there, my interest in IT grew, not so much the web part but rather the broad meaning of the word.
With the move to Belgium, I saw the opportunity to educate myself. So I ended up at BeCode and took an interesting course in web development.
Straight from South Korea to Antwerp, what a nice background! How did you get from BeCode to PHPro?
My coach at BeCode, is a PHP senior developer. During my training, he asked if I had a preference of a company I would like to work for.
I myself did not want to end up in a start-up or a significantly large company, but rather something medium-sized. That way I have the space to grow with them and learn from colleagues.
My coach knows PHPro from a number of projects and recommended this position to me. And that's how I ended up here.
How do you feel within PHPro? Are you getting enough support?
I am very happy with my new environment. When I started working at PHPro, we were in the middle of the COVID-19 crisis.
We had to work from home again as much as possible, and I had a bit of a fear that I couldn't work myself in properly that way. In retrospect, the fear I had was completely unnecessary.
When you start working at PHPro you are assigned a godmother or godfather. My godmother is Sarah Vrielinck. She supported me very well and guided me where necessary. She herself is very busy within PHPro with her projects, but the great thing about her is that she doesn't lose sight of me. She helps me where necessary with all my questions and challenges.
A very pleasant operation within PHPro.
Very nice to hear that you feel so comfortable within PHPro! That makes us another female colleague!
Have you already had a chance to meet Vicky? We also interviewed her in 2019 on the occasion of her 8-year anniversary within PHPro.
To put it funny, you can compare Sarah and Vicky to my parents within PHPro. They are very supportive.
If I have questions and Sarah is not available, I can always turn to Vicky. The atmosphere between us is good and I also notice that I have learned a lot from them.
Nice to be part of the team!
They will love to hear that! Last but not least, do you already have a project you can work on?
I am currently working on an onboarding program and a project at Babylux.
I can apply the knowledge I gained during my training here in practice. The most interesting thing about my job is that I learn new things every day.
Sarah, my godmother, has drawn up a step-by-step plan where she describes in detail how I should work. Even within this project, I can call on my colleagues if I have any questions.
Your first project is always exciting, but you learn a lot from it! Speaking of learning, where do you see yourself growing within PHPro? What would you like to learn more about?
Within PHPro we work in teams. I am in Team 1, we focus mainly on Magento web shops.
If I had to answer your question now, I would like to grow within this platform.
We mainly work on e-commerce projects, which I find the most interesting as you have an immediate view of the results!
I am looking forward to my further career within PHPro and the upcoming projects!
That will certainly be fine. We wish you good luck in your development at PHPro!
See you soon!