BlogLife At TruecallerLife as a Backend Developer at Truecaller

Life as a Backend Developer at Truecaller

Lindsey LaMont

Aug 12, 20163 min read

Have you ever wondered how the Truecaller app works, and who’s providing all the data that gets it to work? Meet Valtteri, one of many Backend Developers at Truecaller. Let’s learn more about his role and responsibilities.

Backend developers work a lot with our data: storing it, processing it, and making it relevant and useful for our users. We’re growing at a speed of 300K new users every day, so the sheer amount of data is challenging to handle.
We also take care of things like accounts, verification, and so on. Of course, we also build the interfaces between the application and the backend systems for new features. All features our users see in the app are dependent on the data, and therefore, also on the backend team.

valtteri

Describe a typical day at work as a Backend Developer

Daily meetings in the morning, and after that most of the day spent writing code. It’s a lot more social of a job than people think, since you talk and collaborate with teammates all the time! We do a lot to avoid useless meetings at Truecaller.

What did you study, how did you get into this position at Truecaller? Do you have any tips (studies, overall) for someone who wants to become a Backend Developer?

I studied Computer Science at Aalto University in Helsinki, and was offered a job through a headhunter. Of course it helps if you have an education, but lots of companies are hiring junior developers, so my tip is to just find someplace to work that you find interesting.
Working at a company where you get experience of data at scale is great, you learn a lot quickly, and this domain is where a lot of interesting things are happening.

I like to work with people. I wanted a chill office job where you can go and get coffee whenever you want. It was also important that the people where I work are passionate about what they do. People at Truecaller really care about the result and quality of their work. I wouldn’t like to work somewhere where the people are just there for the paycheck.

 

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Computer Science is a lot more than just programming; it’s a branch of math. Learning about the fundamentals really gives you a deeper understanding of what you are doing. I think my education has been an enormous boon for me.

What is the best thing about working within your field? What do you like with your job?

I like the creativity; that I can design things. I also get to work with people – this is very important for me. A lot a people believe that programming is about sitting quietly at your desk and typing but that’s just not true – I talk to my co-workers more than I write code. The environment is very social and dynamic.

Of course, I learn a lot about many new things: technologies, frameworks, paradigms. To get to talk to people with different expertise than me is a great source of learning. My teammates at Truecaller are very kind and helpful whenever I need help.

Lindsey LaMont

Aug 12, 20163 min read

Life At Truecaller

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