Even though we're a 100%-remote company, we do a few activities both offline and online. Let's describe them!
Three times a year we fly everyone in and we meet for a day or two of get-together.
In the Martian Days, we don't do client work, and we spend quality time sharing the numbers of the company, doing feedback roundtables, workshops, keynotes, brainstorming sessions, and a few leisure activities like padel tennis, dinners, karaoke, and more!
Needless to say, the company pays for the flights, meals and accommodation. If you pay for any taxi or meal, please send a photo of the receipt to admin@marsbased.com and you will get reimbursed in your next payroll, under the concept of expense allowance.
In Winter, we wrap our Martian Day with a Winter dinner and a good party.
Once a year, we hold a company retreat lasting three to four days. The goal is to travel somewhere and spend quality time together. We conduct a condensed version of our Martian Day and engage in leisure activities.
So far, we've done the following:
- 2024: Andorra.
- 2023: Formentera.
- 2022: Asturias.
2021:Cancelled due to COVID.2020:Cancelled due to COVID.- 2019: Menorca.
- 2018: Dublin.
- 2017: Tenerife.
Like in the Martian Days, the company pays for the flights, meals and accommodation for the whole trip. Again, if you pay for any taxi or meal, please send a photo of the receipt to admin@marsbased.com and you will get reimbursed in your next payroll, under the concept of expense allowance.
On Fridays, we post a thread on Linear where each Martian reports how their week has been. Filling this report is mandatory. However, you have flexibility in its format, length, and content.
Reporting on how your week has been, both professionally and on a personal level, helps to overcome the feeling of loneliness of the remote worker. We have seen that those reports and opening up about certain issues help to bond deeper with the rest of the team.
Some weeks, you'll share more technical stuff, while on others you will share the pictures of your holidays, notify us of a big achievement/change in your life, share a personal passion that you have we didn't know about or just vent about something that you just can't keep inside any longer.
Our team meets online every Thursday at 12PM (CET) to discuss tech and development.
Every week, the chef (the presenter) is rotated. The session is 30 minutes long, and usually covers only one topic. Some past examples are:
- Remix fetch data use cases
- Auth0
- Datadog
- Pratical example of Turbo
- Turbo Websockets
- First Steps in AI development
The session is kicked off by the chef, introducing the topic and commenting on the topic selected for the current session, and it's also the moderator who will lead the conversation and moderate the debate among all the developers involved, asking questions and adding remarks where appropriate.
Other times, we call the session Martian Buffet, and there's no presenter as such, but everyone is free to give their opinion on a given topic.
These sessions are optional and are typically recorded for those unable to attend.
Every Friday, we open a window for casual chatter. You will see on Slack a message announcing a virtual meeting on Google Meet at 10:30am.
You're always invited to join a sort of virtual water cooler for 30 minutes of break.
We like to celebrate certain milestones, like someone's Martian anniversary, their actual birthdays, the release of a big project or someone new joining the team. If there's nothing to celebrate, we will meet for an open agenda of online watercooler randomness.
If you join, signal it with an emoji reaction to the Slack message so we know there's someone in there!