Knoma

As a VC-backed startup, Knoma is growing incredibly fast in an industry showing double-digit growth year-on-year. This means my role as a Partnerships Manager allows for a broad scope of challenges and ultimately: rewarding responsibilities. The growing momentum and traction Knoma is building due our differentiated offering is incredibly exciting, and the opportunity to grow with the company makes the role that much more appealing.

The most inspiring part of working in a fast growing team at Knoma is the responsibility and autonomy which allows me to see my impact through every task I complete. During the COVID-19 pandemic, Knoma has worked really fast to address the growing trend of up-skilling and re-skilling thousands of people into industries they aspire to be in.

Knoma really benefits from a strong leadership team, where the CEO has the vote of confidence from both everyone in the team and many investors. The vision of democratising access to lifelong learning is both inspiring and a reason to get behind the Knoma's growth plan. On top of all that - the org. strategy is clear and internal communication is both transparent and friendly with a growing in-person work community in the centre of London. That's why we'll beat our competitors.

Working in a start-up is fun and challenging. Every day comes with new problems to solve and new things to learn. Also there is a lot of room for career progression.

As a start-up employee you will be able to see all sides of business, have a chance to work with amazing hard working people across the world and learn new things every day. We work towards making education affordable for everyone and we all believe in our mission. The team is lovely and fun too so it's not all work.

Working at Knoma means your voice is heard and you can actually make a difference. Start-up by definition means flat hierarchy and everyone is proud of it. Everyone is open to challenges and this is actually the way we all learn and progress.

When I joined Knoma I was used to building websites for external clients and getting them out the door quickly to uphold the companies profits - this meant I was very well versed in HTML and CSS, but since joining Knoma I had to take up the reigns in terms of JavaScript and actually programming as opposed to simply markup and styling. I've had the opportunity here to turn what I saw as a weakness into a strength, and have absolutely fallen in love with JavaScript along the way. I have voiced the opinion that learning and integrating React feels like the next big step for both Knoma and myself, and have had nothing but encouragement in return. This is a fantastic place to learn, and to steer your own progression in the direction you want - being a small, agile team and a business on the rise, the work you put in is immediately noticeable - so any learning you undergo will directly influence the business and vice versa.

I work from home mostly (we will meet once every 2 weeks) - this allows me to stay fit and healthy, mentally and physically. Without the daily commute I can exercise and meditate in the mornings, with a big plate of fruit and nuts for breakfast. This gives me the get-up-and-go to log on at 9 and give it 100% until I clock off that evening. After which I can get straight into enjoying my evenings and be ready to go again the next day at full steam. We're a hard working, friendly team and the results are visible for all to see, so as long as the work gets done, everyone is happy. The freedom and trust involved in this makes me feel valued, respected and motivated to give it my best every day.

Our CEO - Brett - has led us through ups, downs, turnarounds and ups again. Especially in the early days, being a startup, there were new fires to put out or obstacles for us to navigate around in order to keep moving forward and growing the business. Brett handled each of these with absolute transparency, meaning no one on the team ever felt out of the loop or was left to wonder what was happening. There was also no cause for worry as he always managed to steer the ship threw any choppy tides - He basically did his job very well, and allowed me to just get on with being a developer, which I really appreciate - I know the rest of the team feel the same. Through busy periods, surprises, ups and downs I've never been spoken to with anything less than utmost respect and friendliness - again, we're currently a small team so this just furthers my desire to work hard for the benefit of all of us - and of course my digital offspring, the website itself. To further that point, any time I've had to disagree or push an opposing idea, or have any sort of difficult discussion with the aim of improving the website, I've been able to voice it openly, frankly and without hesitation, as it's understood we're all working toward the same goal of building something we're truly proud of. These discussions are handled with the same level of calmness, friendliness and openness as any other - I get this from Brett and the team, and like to think I reciprocate that standard of communication. It makes the job a lot easier and removes a lot of barriers to output.