In September 2017, Zalando Dublin welcomed their 100th employee, Joe Maguire.

Joe previously worked as an intern in summer 2016 at the Zalando Dublin offices, and comes from a background of electrical engineering. Joe picked up coding in Python and also worked with APIs during his time as an intern.

Joe has good memories of his previous time at Zalando, developing a calendar app and giving everyone a run for their money at pool. We sat down to chat about his first Zalando experiences, projects, and what brought him back to the Grand Canal Quay offices.

How did you get to apply to Zalando?

Joe: My brother works here, so it was a referral. I came in for a chat over coffee, which was great getting that.

Do you remember your first day as an intern?

Joe: Everyone was very friendly. I met a load of new faces. I got my computer and desk, and Darrell, my team lead, started showing me the ropes.

What was the office like back then?

Joe: The Dublin office was a lot smaller then, only about 50 people working there at the time. And we were in the old offices on the Grand Canal in Dublin, an old converted attic warehouse.

We moved to the new offices halfway through the summer to where we are now.

What was the first project you worked on?

Joe: I was putting together a calendar display app for meeting rooms. Python based, taking data from Google Calendar and the meetup APIs, all running on a Raspberry Pi. So this was all new for me - Python, using APIs.

We never got it launched at the time because of WIFI problems with the Raspberry Pi. I hope to get it working maybe now.

What surprised you most about the experience as an intern?

Joe: Just what a great experience it was. I learned so much, not having any development experience before. I was working closely with my team lead, who gave me all the help I needed, building out the app.

I got a bit of help from the brother as well.

What brought you back to Zalando?

Joe: As a first job, you wouldn’t get a much better experience than at Zalando. In other companies, I mightn't be getting as much hands-on experience. In Zalando, you’re working on the latest technologies - microservices, data science and working on the core Zalando platform, the Smart Product Platform.

And the people are great. I get on well with everyone. I knew about 60 people when I left a year ago, and most of them are still here now.

How’s it been starting back full time so far?

Joe: Good. I’m just getting set up so far. I haven’t dived into anything too deep yet. It’s different from last year, of course, I’m working on Zalando products now, and understanding what all the different teams are doing. Last year I didn’t get to work on the products.

I hear you're not a bad pool player?

Joe:(Laughing) Ahem. No comment.