The spriteCloud adventure started in 2009 and a few years later Martin joined the (small) team. Back then, the company consisted of six people based in one and the same country. As we celebrate Martin’s ninth work anniversary, and with the spriteCloud team growing internationally, we wanted to know how he saw the company evolve – and what’s yet to come.
Hi Martin, congratulations on your ninth work anniversary! Can you tell us why you decided to join spriteCloud back then?
Thank you, nine years ago I was looking for a change. After more than 20 years in IT, I had successfully worked my way up the ranks in a variety of positions for companies both large and small. Now what? Could I bring everything I had learned & experienced together for myself? Did I have what it takes to run a business at the highest level? I had not enjoyed my short stint as a go-it-alone freelancer at all.
At the same time, I had two particularly smart contractors working for me from a tiny new company called spriteCloud. They formed it and they had p-l-a-n-s, baby. I looked at their business proposition – a software testing company founded and run by software testers to the benefit of all? Interesting. I realised there was a whole world of experience they were missing that I could, in fact, wanted to bring. I took a chance & joined them as an equal.
How were those first few years at spriteCloud like for you?
Intense. We worked on multiple high-pressure, short-notice, short-term agency projects, often at one and the same time. We had a few long-term client engagements to balance out the craziness. We survived, in fact, we thrived and we grew. We offered a service our customers told us they valued and we held onto that thought.
How would you say your role and the work changed over the years?
I joined spriteCloud as QA Director, responsible for all that role entails. My first task was to stabilise the order & fulfilment process, which included implementing all aspects of project management as a discipline. Promoted to COO, I took on additional operational and HR responsibilities, leaving less time for customer-facing testing work.
What would you say has been the biggest change at spriteCloud over the last 9 years?
Growth. We started with one spriteCloud business, one office and 6 people all sitting on top of each other. We are now well on our way to multiple businesses, multiple offices and 60+ people hundreds (thousands!) of miles apart.
Now let’s look at what the future holds. What are the next challenges you want to take up?
Organisational maturity, product & service diversification, expansion abroad and succession planning.
Interesting and where do you see spriteCloud in the coming 2 or 3 years?
Everywhere. We’ve got p-l-a-n-s, baby.
Finally, could you sum up what working at spriteCloud means to you in a sentence?
Yes. This is what working at spriteCloud means to me: experiencing the joy of testing from within a community of like-minded individuals, all dedicated to furthering the fortunes of our wise and wonderful customers. Too much? I don’t think so. Roll on my 10th anniversary 🙂
Thank you for taking the time to tell us about your past nine years at spriteCloud. We are very happy to have you as a part of our big testing family and already look forward to celebrating that 10th anniversary together!
If you are curious about learning more about what working at spriteCloud is like, follow our #lifeatspritecloud tag on LinkedIn. We are hiring regularly so if you think this is a place that you would feel at home in, head over to our jobs page and apply to one of our open positions.
