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Fast and secure invoice processing for every organisation.
Fast and secure invoice processing for every organisation
My name is Sander Kamstra, one of the founders of Payt. In the journey from a loft idea to a serious organisation, I often come across moments that, in my view, shape our company culture. With this series of blogs, I aim to share a situation each month that reflects who we are as a company. It offers a glimpse into life at Payt. Some articles may not directly apply to your situation, but if they manage to spark reflection, I am satisfied.
At our company, everything revolves around creating software. We provide Software as a Service (SaaS). In the early years, we came up with almost all new features ourselves. But as our customer base grew, more ideas started to come from clients. These arrive via sales, support, implementations, webinars, even birthday parties. We collect all new features in GitHub, our development platform, and meet weekly to prioritise and assign them to developers. Developers are in regular contact with the customers they build for, so at Payt we look for developers who enjoy customer communication as much as development work.
Recently, we had a vacancy for a senior frontend developer. A young applicant, who had graduated only eighteen months earlier, seemed a perfect fit on paper. He was smart, had relevant experience, and was motivated. Two of our developers, each with twenty years’ experience, interviewed him and were enthusiastic. He was familiar with all the software we use, and even with tools we have not yet adopted.
Our recruiter, who carried out the first intake, was also impressed – but she noted his strong insistence on the ‘senior’ title. That was enough reason to hold a third interview. Soon, the conversation shifted away from content and towards job titles, salary expectations and competition with colleagues. That was the litmus test.
After sleeping on it, I felt certain: we should not proceed. At Payt, the person with the most relevant knowledge leads the way, and above all, we work as a team. No single new hire should disrupt that. With a heavy heart, we declined.
And what happened next surprised me: within 24 hours, a developer contacted us herself, asking if she could join. She had three years of experience and openly admitted she was not yet a senior, but was eager to grow with us. She was hired within two days. A wonderful outcome!
Do you also want to work with us? Check out our open vacancies.
