Being EPIC
qualifications get you through the door, character keeps you in the room
— anonymous
Hello learners, I’m going to be talking about Andela’s EPIC values and what it means to me. Yeah! it’s Andela the home of great minds and problem solvers. A place to be challenged and pushed to leap above your boundaries. But is that all there is to it, Is Andela all about geniuses and code crawlers fixated on laptop screens all day. Emphatically No, and here is why;
My Attraction to Andela
I fell in love with Andela the moment I realised the company was more than a breed of high IQ-ed personnel. Andela is a culture, a movement of some sort. And my first stage of initiation has been an introduction to the EPIC values. The word EPIC is both an acronym and a term used to describe a true Andelan. I will break down its meaning as proposed by Andela and my understanding of it within the following paragraphs.
What it means to be EPIC
Excellence - We are lifelong learners who strive for mastery of craft
To go beyond. To under promise and over deliver that’s my understanding of Excellence. I remember my Interview at Andela, during my code review I was told that I programmed excellently but my user interface was underwhelming. I thought to myself ‘duh! it’s a code challenge, what else do you want ?’. I was later told that because the challenge was primarily code based did not mean I couldn’t add a little extra in order to exceed expectations and single my work out. From that experience I learnt that in whatever challenge you are confronted with. First meet expectation and then exceed it. If we all followed instructions like drones there would be no room for innovation.
PASSION - We believe we are going to change the world and we act accordingly
Late nights, countless online tutorial subscriptions/downloads, the desire to learn and create daily. These are few of the many experiences that depict a passionate developer. Passion is a feeling that makes us put aside our pride and ego in order to acquire our goals. The world is filled with a lot of smart and talented people. But in matters of life, talent is never enough and It almost always boils down to who wants it the most.
INTEGRITY - We choose extraordinary people and trust them to do the right thing
Integrity is holding up your values even when no one is watching. It’s the most important of all the Andela values. As Phillip Newman once said; you can correct an under performing colleague, you can infuse passion in an unmotivated comrade and you can integrate a reserved team mate. But you can’t help a deceitful person because his words hold no weight even when he promises to turn a new leaf.
Collaboration - we know our sum is greater than our parts.
I believe the secret of Andela’s success has been its people. When you have excellent, passionate and virtuous fellows to work with, It’s easy to collaborate. This has been my observation among Andelans. No one is trying to outdo the other instead they are all focused on being the best version of themselves. At Andela, colleagues are viewed as assets not competition and this maintains an atmosphere of constructive information exchange. This is the reality within Andela’s walls, and honestly the same should be across the entire developer ecosystem.
Takeaway
Being an Andelan for me is not just about getting a job or a raise in pay-grade. It’s being part of a fellowship, a group of like minded individuals willing to tear themselves to the bone in order to reach their true potentials while staying true to their values along the way. From Andela’s EPIC values I believe that we as people can actually be great without compromising ourselves. This I believe is the bedrock for greatness for any person or nation.
