Today, we would like to introduce you to Peter Toth, who is originally from Romania and works in our platform team. In this edition of “My life at SimScale”, Peter shares some insights into his day-to-day responsibilities, what excites him about working at SimScale, and his recent transition into his role as a technical program manager!
Name: Peter Toth
From: Romania
Position: Senior Software Engineer
Time at SimScale: 1.9 years
Peter, what brought you to SimScale?
I wanted a new challenge and was looking for something that was a bit out of my comfort zone. I was doing backend development at my previous company, but only for a short time. I decided I needed a change! I was looking for job opportunities and came across SimScale. Since it was a different role and I didn’t know much about it, I approached Lisa on LinkedIn. I was sent an assignment to complete at home. I liked the task and thought SimScale would be really challenging and something interesting. When completing the task and receiving feedback, I realized that this was something I would be really excited about. It didn’t quite work out in the beginning, but after a few months I got approached again and here I am.
What are your responsibilities at SimScale?
At the moment, I have two parallel responsibilities. One is in the platform team where I work as a backend developer. Our team provides the platform for other departments at SimScale like the simulation, meshing, or CAD team. We are developing features and maintaining them.
The other side is being a technical program manager. This is new territory for me and I’m still figuring out how to fit in this role. The idea is to connect the operations side of the company with engineering. Whenever operations has a request, it has to be translated into engineering. This is something I started 3 months ago — it has its challenges and I’m learning a lot!
How did your new role come about?
Gyorgy, our Platform Team Lead, approached me! I was already working close to operations and I could imagine that’s how the idea came up; I took over this role for him. We have many things to do in and around the team, so it made sense to split up these tasks. I can sense he trusts me with this role and thought that it would be an interesting challenge.
Why do you enjoy working at SimScale?
There are two aspects: one is that I really enjoy working with lots of smart people, inside the team and outside the team. I see a lot of very smart, passionate, and ambitious people. This is always motivation when I start working in the morning and see others do a great job. The other aspect is the product. I think it’s really something nice and useful for many areas and people. It’s very motivating to work on something that can really have an impact on the world.
What’s the best part of your workday?
This is not exactly work-related, but in a way it is. I like it when I come to the office in the morning and I meet team members and we have a ten-minute coffee break or just a ten-minute chat. When it comes to working, I don’t know if I can pinpoint one specific thing. When we finish and release something new on the platform, that is something very enjoyable. Usually, we work on quite a big project, that might take a whole quarter, it is a lot of effort and it requires many teams to work together. And when all of it is working and we release it, it’s a very nice moment to see something go live.
Do you have a daily routine here at SimScale?
Yes, usually when I arrive at the office, we have a few minutes of coffee chat and socializing. Then in the morning, it’s a bit more focused when I work on my tickets and the planning. And for lunch, we either go out to have lunch or we have German classes. After lunch, we do our daily scrum with the team, and that’s also when some other meetings might pop up. That time in the afternoon is filled with more meetings as we talk about the next plans and so on. At the end of the day, there is some more focused time and wrapping up things.
What is important in your role?
I think what’s really important is actually communicating with others from within the team, with the product team, and whoever is requesting the features. I realized it mostly during the pandemic when we were not talking too much on-site, that if you don’t understand requirements, or you don’t communicate what you are working on or what your obstacles are, things are not going to go very well. Sometimes people think of a developer role as someone who is mostly coding, but coding is actually only 30% of my time — the rest is understanding what needs to be done, communicating with other teams, writing down decisions and documentation as well as technical details — these are probably even more important things.
Your team has grown quite a bit since you joined – how do you experience this growth?
There was a time when we were quite small, then we hired more people on the team. I think it was pretty smooth. This period before the newcomers was good because then we really managed to form a group and they were coming in gradually. Having a new person, it’s easier to onboard them. Many people did their part in onboarding, which really helped. It’s easier for our new team members, but it also forms a personal connection.
Last but not least Peter, what do you like doing in your free time?
I like doing sports. I’m into running and am training for a race. I signed up for the Tegernsee half-marathon and we’re also planning a race together with some other team members. I also jumped on the baking bandwagon during the pandemic and I have been making pizza. But here I have to check if our Italian colleagues like it because they are much pickier about it. But it’s something I enjoy from time to time!
Thank you, Peter!
Stay tuned for more spotlight articles from SimScale employees and see what the team has been up to on our @lifeatsimscale Instagram feed. Want to start your own SimScale story? Make sure to keep an eye on our careers page for possible openings!
