Six months after the launch of the new Sky office in Prague, we're excited to share how some of us feel about the team, the office, and the new journey we're on. The office has been steadily growing, with new team members onboarding, and the work is taking shape as we settle into our roles. It’s been an amazing experience to be part of the Sky family so far.
In this post, we’re sharing insights from a short interview with Adrián Huňa, our Backend Engineering Manager in the Global Commerce department. Adrián collaborates closely with the team in UK and helps shape the role of the Prague team.
What does Sky mean to you?
Sky is successful thanks to its continuous innovations. And for me that means that we work on a technical platform that has global scale.
How do you feel working at our Prague office?
Working for Sky from Prague is something extraordinary, and being at the beginning of anything is really exciting. We get to influence how our team is going to work forward and that's a really pleasant experience.
Which of the other Sky locations are closest to your team?
Our team cooperates with other teams from Global Commerce Department, and those are located in both Portugal and England. However, the Identity teams are primarily in England, so I would say the UK.
What is your role in the Sky team?
Our team works in the Identity Space which is primarily about user authentication, so we take care of sign-in, sign-up, and storing user account data.
Enabling sign-ups and sign-ins is a crucial area of the business. What are the biggest challenges you face?
As a backend development team, we must consider the robustness and scalability of our API services. The latest great example of what the platform needs to deliver was the NFL match we streamed on Peacock on September 6th. With this game, shown exclusively on the Peacock streaming platform, we hit our second-highest audience ever for Peacock. Overall, 14.2 million fans watched the game. This was second only to the NFL Wild Card playoff in January and double the scale of the NFL Holiday exclusive in December. The experience for our audience was flawless.
How do you view the past year, and what changes have been made to the platform or the team?
The Identity platform recently launched several major features like authentication via phone number for Showmax users and application robustness enhancements. As a newer team in Prague, we've been focusing on getting up to speed with valuable insights from the UK teams during their 4 visits here and our visit to London. We explored Identity architecture, user journeys and the department’s work intake process.
And from the perspective of the Global Commerce department you belong to, what was interesting to be part of recently?
The global streaming platform we develop is a multi-tenant solution which supports multiple products. Although Peacock is the biggest one, all of the propositions have their specifics and existing features launched. Some examples include the launch of an ad-supported plan for SkyShowtime, Ultra Boost plan for Now in the UK, DStv sports pass for Showmax, and a partnership with Verizon for Peacock.
You’ve been working with Sky and NBCU teams for a while now. How do you enjoy the blend of corporate background and the startup-like culture we have here in Prague?
In fact, I would say that company culture doesn’t vary significantly between locations despite their various sizes. Quite the contrary: everyone I’ve had the pleasure of meeting has been very friendly, professional, and passionate about building excellent products. In my opinion, Sky’s company culture is relaxed, making it easy to feel right at home, even for those experiencing the context of large organizations for the first time.
Do you hang out together after work? What does your team enjoy doing? Any shared hobbies?
The team’s all about beer and board games! When we go out, you’ll usually find us enjoying a beer, no matter if we’re hosting UK guests in Prague or on a business trip. If we stay inside, we’ll play one of many board games – cooperative or competitive – everyone finds their favorite in the hundreds of board games the team members own!
Do you have open positions within your team? What kind of people are you looking for?
We’re looking for experienced Java Software Engineers who would love to make a real impact for millions of customers worldwide. You will enjoy the work if you are a self-driven communicative person who will be proud not just of the code you write but also the way it runs in production. Come join our teams in Prague but also look forward to cooperation with colleagues in the UK and Portugal and help us build the best authentication and authorization platform for our users.
Thank you, Adrian, for sharing your experiences and insights. We wish you all the best as you continue expanding the team and shaping your roles here at Sky. We're excited to see what the future holds for the Prague office!
Interested in joining Adrian's team? Explore the open positions for medior and senior Java developers in his team!
