Every few months we sit down with a team member at Digistorm to talk about their life, their career, and what their experience has been since working at Digistorm. In this interview, we chat with Thayla, one of our Gold Coast-based Customer Service Managers!
Regan: Could you tell us a bit about yourself?
Thayla: Sure! I’m Thayla, I’m a CSM here at Digistorm. I’m from Brazil, the very south of Brazil. I came to Australia five years ago. I studied marketing in Brazil, and when I moved to Australia I started working in the customer service industry, so I’ve always had face-to-face jobs. I’ve always wanted to work in the tech industry, so that’s why I started looking for jobs in the software world, and that’s how I found Digistorm.
Regan: What were you looking for in a job?
Thayla: I was really picky when looking for a job because I kind of always worked in an office space, and I wanted to have the opportunity to work from home as well, but I also wanted to have the experience to be able to go to the office. So, my first question to Clay was “Ok, am I going to have to go to the office every day?” and he was like “No, no, it’s a hybrid environment, so you can work from home when you want, but I believe that you’ll love the office when you come into the office.”
My previous jobs were, I wouldn’t say boring, but I did the same thing from the moment that I started; 8:30 am to 5:00 pm. And I feel like here I help little projects here and there and I do my own job as well.
Regan: What was your first time in the office like?
Thayla: When I came here the first time I thought it had Google vibes. There’s a nice kitchen, snacks everywhere, and everyone’s so nice, I got to meet everyone from all the departments which is very different, because in most companies you only really know the names of people in your own team, and it’s just so exciting because I know everyone’s name and most of them know my name.
I remember my first day at Digistorm, at lunchtime, I was like “Ok, I’m just going to grab my lunch, sit in the kitchen and wait for one hour to go by and go back to work." But then everyone started leaving to go surfing and I’m like "What is this?" Like what kind of job is this, because people get to live their lives throughout the week as well, and that’s so different for me cause I only did the things that I enjoyed during the weekend and now I have one hour during lunchtime to go for a walk on the beach.
Regan: What are the people like at Digistorm?
Thayla: The people are so nice. Because I’ve never worked in the tech industry before I was so scared, because I was like “OMG, I don’t know anything!” But everyone was so helpful and they all said to me “It’s ok, you’re going to get there, you’re going to learn, you can do it”, and that’s really given me the strength to go and do it and learn everything that I’ve learned so far.
The people are also all so different! They all have their own personalities, which is great. I think that Digistorm embraces everyone’s personalities. Everyone has a different way of working, even in my team some people will do things differently than others. It’s nice because it doesn’t mean that they’re doing it wrong, it’s just the best way that they can do things.
Regan: How’s your work/life balance at the moment?
Thayla: When you love what you do and you enjoy your job and the management and the company that you work for, they know that you need that work/life balance to be able to be productive and do your job right.
I can come back and have lunch with my colleagues and they all encourage us to have our own time and to be healthy, to go for runs. We even have the run club here at Digistorm that I’ve recently joined. I’ve always wanted to do a 5km/10km race, but I never had the motivation to do it by myself. So there are people from the development team, the marketing team, and the sales team; they all get together and go for a run together.
After we go for a run on the beach, we get together at a coffee shop around here and we have coffee. It's really cool because you can see that it’s the company that encourages you to have your own time, to look after your health and your family and be around the ones that you love.
Regan: What do you like best about working at Digistorm?
Thayla: If you’re a people person like me, one of the benefits of working at Digistorm is going to workshops around Australia. It’s really fun because you get to go to places as well and meet your customers face to face.
My job’s just so dynamic! I do so many different things and I help so many different schools, and they all have different approaches to the products that we have, so that's really exciting because it's never the same. I feel like here at Digistorm you are heard and what you think really matters, you’re not just a robot that comes into the office to do what you’re supposed to do. Like, you can innovate in your own role. So, that’s cool because you can be yourself, and that’s really good.
Regan: What’s the culture like at Digistorm?
Thayla: The culture at Digistorm is fun! Everyone’s so nice. When Clay called me to come for an interview, I didn’t actually want to be in an office environment anymore, I wanted the opportunity to work from home full-time. But when I came to the office for the first time, I was just like “Ok, I’m going to come here more often. It’s so much fun! Everyone’s so nice and so embracing of each other’s personalities and ways of life.
Regan: Why would you recommend working at Digistorm?
Thayla: Why would I recommend someone to work here? Because it’s the best place I’ve worked for! It’s such a cool company to work for. The thing that gets me the most is that I’m just getting started, it’s just the beginning. It’s so exciting when I think of the future and what the company’s going to become. We’re taking over the world!