New at Raidboxes: CTO Thomas Goik

New at Raidboxes: CTO Thomas Goik

We live Managed WordPress Hosting 100 percent. The Dashboard of Raidboxes shall remain number 1 in the future - this is ensured by our Chief Technical Officer (CTO) Thomas Goik among others. Learn more about his diverse work and about our team.

The product development of Raidboxes

Thomas, you are new on board as CTO. What exactly does this job entail? And what does your day-to-day work look like?

Yes, I am new at Raidboxes, previously two of our employees had taken over this task on an interim basis. My task is relatively comprehensive, which is why I have divided it into several milestones.

First of all, as the person responsible for technology, I have to get to know the staff. So my first milestone was to take care of the team. The second step in my role is to advance us technologically, and that is my focus at the moment.

My working day mostly consists of meetings, on the one hand with my colleagues from the technical team, but also with stakeholders and the people responsible from the other Circles. I usually work through the different points in a two-week rhythm, so the content and tasks are different in each case.

Raidboxes continues to grow - be part of it

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The tasks of our product development are very diverse. Which projects have priority for you and why?

Indeed, the tasks are diverse and quite complex, and we want to continue to be leaders in things like speed and reliability. However, I have noticed that we have lost the focus a bit. Therefore, the highest priority for me is to bring more structure and thus more product responsibility into the teams.

This allows us to focus more on development. We are currently working on the renewal of our interfaces in order to be able to offer even more functionalities.

A diverse and committed team

What is your first impression of Raidboxes and your team?

I wouldn't say it's my team, but rather "of the team". My first impression is that we can still move a lot. Both as a Raidboxes team and in the development itself. Our employees all have a lot of drive, I think we just need to channel the tasks a bit more.

Regardless of this, I immediately felt very comfortable with my colleagues - I had a bit of respect for such a "rather German group", over the years I have always worked with many, many people from other cultural backgrounds.

You have a lot of experience in managing software engineering. Every working environment has its own challenges. What do you see at Raidboxes? And how do you tackle them?

In fact, I have worked with a wide variety of team structures. And each team had its own dynamics and challenges. At Raidboxes, I think the task is first and foremost to redefine the focus. We started many things and sometimes lost sight of completing them.

Therefore, the internal feeling has "spread" that we are not making progress at some points. As I said before, the first step is to structure teams around product areas and give them a clear mission. But we are also adapting our ways of working. For example, by generating more feedback loops in order to act faster. Fast and lean development is what will take us forward.

The focus for the future

How did you manage to get an overview of Raidboxes in a short time?

Ha, I don't know if I really have such a good overview yet 🙂 However, I have made an effort to get to know Raidboxes from the outside first, in order to now work through what I have seen from the inside. It's always important for me to talk to all the staff - and not just stay in the technology department. I think that helped me to get a more colourful picture.

Are there any new things you want to introduce at Raidboxes?

Yes, absolutely, I think processes can serve well. Especially in a start-up, where the focus can and must change quickly, processes can channel certain actions. In the last few years I have had quite good experiences with OKRs (Objectives and Key Results). I think that we at Raidboxes can certainly achieve something with this kind of focus.

In development, we will focus more on our customers. We will take care of their needs and realise the whole thing more quickly through simpler development processes.

Why did you choose a WordPress web host as your employer?

There are a few reasons that made me come to Raidboxes\. I was looking for a company that sees fair play not only as a figurehead and that also wants to do things sustainably.

WordPress web hosting was not a topic for me before, but in my functions I always had to do with server hosting. Therefore, WordPress hosting is not an unknown topic for me. However, in the last few years I have always been stuck with providers like AWS or GCP. I guess I also missed the flair and impact as an independent hosting provider.

Raidboxes continues to grow

We are regularly looking for new employees. What advice do you give potentially interested people? Why should they apply to us?

We are especially interesting for people who are looking for new ways - both in the WordPress environment and in hosting. As already mentioned, we want to stay on top. And of course we're looking for people who like to smoke with mental effort, to put it bluntly. Above all, it is important for us that the applicants have drive, i.e. incentive.

You live and work in Spain. Raidboxes is very well positioned remotely. Nevertheless, how do you manage to stay close to the team?

Yes, Raidboxes is - in my opinion - a pioneer with its remote approach. Not only are they looking for people nationally, we also want to position ourselves internationally. And with my headquarters in Spain, I fit in very well.

First of all, it was important for me that everyone gets the feeling that you can also build good connections via video conferencing. I have had many remote employees in the last few years. And of course I was able to gain experience of how something like this works.

I myself like to work with 1:1 arrangements. This form means a lot to me personally. Because I can pick up each person individually. But I think it is also important to have an open ear for the staff and to listen.

What do you do to balance out your demanding job? How do you "come down" again in the evening?

I have always been a team type of person and had played 7-person football until Corona. However, these types of team sports have been cut back a lot by Corona. My wife signed us up at the gym and then at Boxes to get some balance.

Boxesis a sport that I never had on my list. But since I've been doing it more intensively, I think it's a shame that I didn't try it out earlier. Thanks to my coach (Carlos Ramos, EU Champion) I find the mental and physical balance to work.

Your questions about working at Raidboxes

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