As 2021 comes to an end, we look back and reflect on what a year it’s been! We have had many changes over the last 12 months and we are super excited to bring in the new year and see what 2022 brings!
We speak to some of Team Aveni and find out what their highlights were at work and on a personal level. So without further ado, let’s celebrate another year of Aveni!
Robbie Homer-Plews – Business Analyst
-Work highlight – There are lots of moments to choose from with new clients coming onboard to the transformation of the product. But I would have to pick our first company away day we had back in the summer. Having joined Aveni in the depths of lockdown, it’s been a strange experience only speaking to people over video every day. So it was great to finally catch up with everyone in person and get everyone getting excited about where we’re going as a company. Oh and of course seeing the array of vocal talent we have at our disposition during late night karaoke…
-Personal highlight- My personal highlight would definitely have to be completing the Loch Ness Marathon back in October. 5 years on from my first marathon attempt in Greece, I managed to chalk an hour and a half off my personal record and finally lay the demons of Athens to bed!
Choon Wang – User Experience Designer
Work highlight – As my first job after graduation, I learned in aveni how to make the design to be grounded and truly serve the customers, which is very challenging, but very important for UX design
Personal highlight – I left Glasgow, where I have lived for three years, and moved to London. Now I am enjoying London very much.
Lisa Alazraki – Graduate Engineer
-Work highlight: Having largely a maths/stats/machine learning background, I have learned a lot about full stack development at Aveni, and it has been really fun and interesting.
-Personal highlight: Graduating from my Masters with a high mark!
Piers Williams – DevOps Engineer
-Work highlight- Having such a strong culture of collaboration and seizing initiative at Aveni has meant iterating rapidly on our infrastructure setup and processes throughout the year. It’s so motivating to be able to constantly bring forward new proposals for our DevOps efforts, and build upon them rapidly with great input from all our engineers.
-Personal highlight- Climbing Snowdon back in August was such an incredible experience, despite it being a brutally cold trip. I’ve not done much climbing or hiking before but now I’m looking forward to taking on Ben Nevis next year!
Phil Williams – NLP Engineer
-Work highlight –Aveni is continually hiring talented engineers, designers, and business experts, and of course that’s always exciting, but what’s been really thrilling for me is the expansion of the NLP chapter – the influx of new ideas and skills, and the boost in what we’re capable of achieving.
-Personal highlight –After going through last year’s lockdown as ‘separate households,’ my partner and I finally bought a place and moved in together. We moved from different areas of Edinburgh, but we’re both loving living in the ‘4th coolest neighbourhood in the world’ – Leith!
Hayfa Bukhari – Marketing Manager
Work highlight – I would definitely say my highlight was organising our first away day. It was quite stressful not knowing what the situation was going to be like this year but we managed to pull it together. It was so nice to see the whole team in one place where we could get to know each other better. I enjoyed running around Edinburgh and finding the clues during the team activity as well as the karaoke. A day not to be forgotten! :D
Personal highlight – Getting married this year tops everything! It’s been crazy busy the past couple of months but lots of fun too. I have been planning multiple events and it’s been a real experience! :P Overall, 2021 has been a delight and I look forward to continuing my celebrations into the new year!
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