We’ve loved hosting our remote Alpha developer, Fatbardh, who flew in from Kosovo with his fiancée, Fortesa, for his first-ever UK trip.
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| Fatbardh in our Telford HQ |
After 12 months of coding brilliance on Start’s Alpha-based platforms (including projects such as OERCA, Greenfield and OnTarget) , it was wonderful to finally swap video calls for real coffee and conversation.
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| Jamie, Lucas, Zac, Fatbardh & Melika in today's AI meeting |
A year of remote impact
Over the past year, Fatbardh has helped us move faster and smarter on all of our Alpha Anywhere-based software platforms including OERCA, Greenfield, OnTarget and Alpha Tracker (Start’s cloud-based platform used by asbestos surveying, water hygiene, environmental and compliance teams). From performance tweaks to UI polish and sprint support, he’s been a calm, capable presence in our stand-ups and releases.
First UK steps—and a hop to World Summit AI As part of the visit, Fatbardh also made it to World Summit AI in Amsterdam. Conferences are great for perspective, and this one underscored a few themes we care about: practical AI to augment developer workflows, responsible data use, and MLOps that keeps experimentation measurable. Expect to see those ideas inform how we prototype features and test quality in Alpha Tracker over the coming months.
Team time at Hickory’s
We wrapped the visit with a team lunch at Hickory’s—a proper chance to say thank you. It’s amazing how breaking bread together accelerates trust. Conversations that would take weeks to unfold online happened in an hour over ribs and fries.
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| Adam, Melika, Catherine, Lucas, Fortesa, Fatbardh, Zac, Jamie & Jack (Dan & Robin were paying the bill!) |
What we learned (and will keep doing)
- Plan purposeful in-person time: We combined the visit with a roadmap workshop and sprint retrospective so decisions stuck.
- Pair programming in bursts: Two-hour pairing blocks helped ship tricky fixes and share patterns faster than a week of comments.
- Bring the customer voice closer: Shadowing our support desk gave live insight into how our clients use features day-to-day.
- Make space for life: Including Fortesa in socials reminded us that strong teams are built around people, not just projects.
Next stop: Edinburgh—then home
Before heading back, Fatbardh and Fortesa are squeezing in a quick trip to Edinburgh via Shrewsbury and Telford. Then it’s wheels up and back to Kosovo, with fresh ideas, full notebooks, and a lot of new inside jokes.
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| Fatbardh & Fortesa outside their luxury Shrewsbury hotel (yes, OK, it's a Premier Inn!) |
Thank you, Fatbardh (and thank you, Fortesa!). Safe travels and see you back in our stand-ups. We’re grateful for the impact you’ve had on our Alpha team and excited for what’s next as we keep improving the platform for the teams who rely on it every day.
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