SEAT:CODE, a 2020 summary

2020 has been one of the most challenging years in all our professional careers for almost everyone working at SEAT:CODE. Not only because of the COVID context, really well explained by Lucia de Pró, our Officer Manager, but also due to our ambitious goals set at the end of 2019.

In 2020, we have worked hard and play harder not only developing projects, products, and services but also making business development, lead generation, strategy, talent acquisition, financial forecasts, and much more, including introducing SEAT:CODE to the new SEAT CEO.

Sebastian Grams (in the front) visiting us while Tom George (in the back) facilitates our weekly sync

We cannot be prouder of what we have done. We want to share a small summary with all of you and take the chance to thank everyone involved for such an effort and commitment. It wouldn’t be possible without you! Beyond delivering a lot, let’s see some of the 2020 highlights.

From Production Line to Line of Code

SEAT:CODE has contributed to the Digital Transformation of SEAT not only with projects and tools but also by supporting the shift of five people from the Car Production line into SEAT:CODE as developers. After a selection process and a Bootcamp of 16 weeks, these 5 people started officially as Junior Developers on December, 1st. You can read more in the following article.

A pioneering project: turning 5 production line people into software developers

20% of projects for VW Group

SEAT:CODE creates digital solutions for SEAT, CUPRA, SEAT MÓ, the VW Group, and external customers. In 2020, around 20% of SEAT:CODE projects were VW Group projects. This way, we contribute to VW Group's success by speeding up development and improving quality while keeping the know-how internally.

SEAT:CODE brings even more good software development practices, agile methodologies, and a lean start-up mindset to the VW Group. A part of the technical skills, we offer a business-oriented attitude for creating new business models.

SEAT:CODE contribution to the COVID «ventilators»

During the peak of the COVID crisis, the lack of ventilators in the hospitals, SEAT took the stand to contribute and decided to transform part of the car production line into a breathers production line. If you want to know more, read this article.

SEAT starts the production of emergency ventilators at its Martorell facilities

SEAT:CODE humbly contributed by developing a small Supply Chain tool to track the status of parts and deliveries to the hospitals. We want to show our love and respect to everyone suffering and everyone that is helping to overcome this crisis.

SEAT:CODE Mobility Platform launched during the lockdown

We already presented SEAT:CODE Mobility Platform in a previous post. However, it’s still amazing how the team managed to launch our Mobility Platform in a short period of time. A part of the launch, we manage to set up the Barcelona SEAT MÓtosharing service working together with the SEAT MÓ team. All of these, during the lockdown.

SEAT MÓtosharing uses the Mobility Platform developed by SEAT:CODE

New opportunities for our Mobility Platform

Since August, we have evolved the Mobility Platform to cover more use cases like Corporate Mobility and Citizens Mobility. On top, we have closed other collaborations with companies committed to sustainable mobility.

I’m now a heavy user of SEAT MÓtosharing and a heavy beta tester of the future of SEAT employee mobility powered by SEAT:CODE. You will also be a fan considering that we manage an amazing modern corporate fleet with beautiful cars like the red CUPRA Ateca DSG 300 HP shown in the picture.

SEAT:CODE is working on improving employee mobility

New Headquarters: La Rambla, 124

We have new headquarters! In July, we moved from the Barcelona Tech City offices in the Pier01 to La Rambla, 124, right in Barcelona's heart. You can read more here. With the plan to grow our team a lot, the Pier01 space was getting short, and we needed a bigger place.

SEAT:CODE headquarters right in the heart of Barcelona

After a lot of research, we found this lovely modernist building from the 1920s. It was the headquarters of «Las Noticias» newspaper and many years after, the Hotel Montecarlo. Next to Plaça Catalunya, our new home is well-connected, and the surroundings offer a great commercial and social ecosystem.

Everyone is doing home-office since February. The office is open for anyone who needs a quiet space or who needs to “disconnect from home”.

2020 has been a challenging year for all of us, especially the youngest ones

+100 SEAT:CODErs

Maria Larios, our Chief People Officer, started at SEAT:CODE in January. In less than 12 months, she managed, with the help of the SEAT HR Team, to define, organize, hire, and onboard remotely more than 90 new SEAT:CODErs.

People involved in the achievement of being more than 100 people at SEAT:CODE

That was a huge effort, not only for Maria but for everyone involved in active sourcing, doing interviews, reviewing code challenges, and onboarding the new people. Thanks again to all of you!

How does 2021 look like?

The plan for 2021 is to keep in projects, products, and services, to onboard to our mobility platform new customers and new business use cases, to launch a new SaaS platform around Production and Logistics that any company can benefit from it, keep improving the SEAT and CUPRA customer experience, and grow inside of the VW Group.

All that, without stopping to improve and work towards the challenges that a tech young middle-sized company has implicitly: impactful business value, culture, diversity, social responsibility, open-source community, etc. If you like what you read, take a look at our LinkedIn page or share your interest at jobs@code.seat.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!