Complex, sensitive and challenging: these are the key accents that Ieva Gražulevičiūtė, Backend Developer at Vinted,  uses to describe the field of her occupation – Online Payments. Being extremely important today and, with no doubt, keeping its relevance in the future, the Payments industry attracts new tech talents rapidly. Ieva, also being a mentor at Women Go Tech, shares her experience on becoming a Payment industry professional. Don’t miss the first part of the Career in Online Payments where Ieva’s colleague Ernesta tells her professional story.  

Could you tell us about your career path so far – how did you get to where you are now?

It was based on a lot of lucky coincidences. I got a quality assurance specialist internship in then newly opened Danske Bank IT offices. After it I was offered a full time position there. Few years into my job I mentioned to the developers in my team I would like to be a developer too and they were kind enough to offer to teach me. When I was working as a backend software engineer in the payments team in Danske Bank and thinking it would be cool to apply to Vinted, I met someone from their Payments team who told me they are currently looking for developers. And here I am.

At Vinted you specialise in the Payments field. How did you come to work in this area?

While working in Danske Bank I got a chance to work in several teams with different specialisations. I ended up liking the payments team the most and spent the most time there. Which allowed me to gain quite a lot of domain knowledge. When I moved to Vinted I preferred to keep on working in the same area. This move included a big tech stack change, having the domain knowledge eased the transition.

“The world basically runs on software nowadays and it is a really nice feeling to have some understanding of how that looks under the hood.“

What excites you about this field? What interests you the most at your job?

It is a complex and sensitive field. This responsibility to do things correctly is challenging in the best way possible. Also, these are the times when countries like Sweden are talking about going cashless in a few years time. It is very exciting to work with digital payments and know the ins and outs of it.

What are some of the main tasks/challenges you work on in your position?

Maintaining and extending with new features the current Vinted payments platform. Monitoring how it is performing and responding to any issues. Integrating with various payments providers.

What have been the most interesting or rewarding aspects of your career thus far?

Being in the field of software engineering is rewarding in itself. The world basically runs on software nowadays and it is a really nice feeling to have some understanding of how that looks under the hood. Both from the technological perspective and from being part of a software company.

This year you have become a Women Go Tech mentor! How did you decide to become a mentor? What are your thoughts on mentorship?

Having transferred to IT from a different field myself I now know a lot about learning new things, finding resources, keeping the discipline and routine to be able to push ahead. For a while now I’ve been thinking that the experience I’ve gained could be useful to someone else, to make their journey just a little bit faster and smoother. I think being a mentor could be a great way to do it. Plus during the transition I’ve also struggled with imposter syndrome and self doubt quite a bit. Which really helps me appreciate the importance of mentorship and support.

“For a while now I’ve been thinking that the experience I’ve gained could be useful to someone else, to make their journey just a little bit faster and smoother. I think being a mentor could be a great way to do it.“

Do you have your mentors/role models that inspire you in your professional life?

I still keep in touch with the former colleagues that helped me to learn software development. I am very grateful for the inspiring women I get to work with on a daily basis Ernesta Mačiutienė and Aistė Miškūnienė who are also mentors at Women Go Tech this year. And for the role models from the web – Lin Clark and Julia Evans are two amazing women that explain complex technological problems with doodles. I am currently learning to draw so I might also do that someday.

How did you choose to work at Vinted? What was important for you when choosing a company to work at?

I became fascinated with Vinted when attending the ‘Vilnius Tech Leads’ events. I liked the topics they discussed and the atmosphere in the office. But the most important thing in a company for me is Culture. The more your culture is in line with that of a company, the easier is to feel like you belong there and to make right decisions fast. And I think I found that match in Vinted.

What advice would you give for everyone seeking to break into the tech world or just making their first steps into tech?

Do not compare yourself with people that are in the field a lot longer than you are. You may observe them, you may analyse what is that they are doing that makes them such a great expert or team member, but do not go to the place of ‘I am not able to do what they do, it must mean I’m not good enough’. They simply had a lot more time to practice.