Women's History Month Employee Spotlight: Simone Beets

Simone joined Synatic in 2021, as a Software Engineer on the Product team. She is based in Port Elizabeth, South Africa. 

What’s your favorite part of working for Synatic?

The work culture and our Engineering team. I thrive working in a remote environment and I am grateful that we are able to work the way we do. I really enjoy being part of our Engineering team as everyone is approachable, happy to help out where they can, and open to continuous learning and sharing ideas.

What is your favorite company value?

I have the Synatic values card on my desk! I have two favorites, namely “Be Empathetic” and “Be Courageous”.

The empathy value resonates with me both personally and professionally in that it can make all the difference if you show that you genuinely care and want to help. As developers, we need to care about and understand issues that clients experience with the systems we build, our teammates, and ourselves to build better features and minimize bugs, build better relationships with our team, and look after ourselves to be our best at work.

To be courageous is probably not a trait that anyone who knows me would usually associate with me because I am more of a retrospective thinker and mostly act when I am more sure of something. But it's a necessary skill to learn in the workplace. We need to have the courage to step up, to speak up, to fill any gaps that we see, and to contribute to the best of our ability because that is how we grow professionally. This skill is still a work in progress for me, but it is important to me that I continuously work on it.

What skill do you leverage most at work?

Again, I have two: care and persistence. With work, as in life, the keys are to care about what we're doing and to never give up. When we care about what we're doing and when we are fully present at work, it positively impacts the quality of what we are building. And then for persistence, when working on a big feature or a difficult bug, it's a good idea to take a break or ask for help when we're struggling or stuck. It's in that pause that you might just be able to figure it out.

What are 3 fun facts about you?

1. I am a crazy basset hound (dog) lady. Jesse, my 11-year-old basset hound adoptee, is my everything.
2. I live in a one-bedroom cottage with Jesse and 23 indoor plants. My favorite plants are my tropical pitcher plant and the calatheas - don't tell the others.
3. I don't watch series or movies, but I really enjoy watching (emphasis on watching, not playing) sport like tennis.