Applitools: "On Tuesdays, the Entire Company Comes Into the Office and It's a Celebration"
Applitools was designed to help engineering teams deliver Visually Perfect Digital Experiences to end users by automatically inspecting and verifying all visual and functional aspects of an application. "Unlike other companies, at Applitools we propel our ideas forward and execute them," says Amit Zur, a Director of Engineering at the company
Founded in 2013 by Gil Sever (CEO), Adam Carmi (CTO) and Moshe Milman (COO), Applitools is an award-winning company[1] and its flagship product, Applitools Eyes, isthe world's most advanced Visual AI engine that was trained on billions of images from real applications that validates all the visual aspects of any web, mobile and native apps in a fully automated way. Helping engineering, DevOps, automation, and development teams release and monitor flawless apps, the vast tech stack is able to inspect and ensure that every UI element on each page appears in the right color, shape, position, and size and that it does not overlap or hide other UI elements.
The world's top brands — including nine of the top 10 software companies, seven of the top 10 North American banks, two of the top three North American retailers — partner with Applitools to accelerate innovation with Visual AI and Ultrafast Test Cloud. In May 2021 US private equity investment firm, Thoma Bravo, acquired the company with an intent to position Applitools as the market leader and help accelerate the growth of the company organically and inorganically.
The company has offices in Ramat Gan's Diamond Exchange District as well as in San Mateo, California and Australia, and is currently actively recruiting new members across a wide range of positions to join its Israeli offices. There are 120 employees around the world, 30 of which are located in Israel and work in the R&D department and 20 others working in the Israeli offices as part of the company's Support, Customer Success, Product, Sales and Finance teams. The company's Business Development and Marketing teams are located in the United States and Australia, and there are also around 8 Ukrainians who work for the company.
"I am in charge of seven employees with one on the East Coast, one on the West Coast, as well as one from Ukraine. The rest are based here in Israel," says Amit Zur, a 41-year-old, Director of Engineering in the R&D department and father of three (9, 5, and 1.5 years old, respectively).
Zur has been with the company for around four years. "I worked as a developer for ten years but avoided going into management," he recalls. "Then I became a freelancer for a year and a half out of a desire to spend more time with my kids. I began working with Applitools as a part-time independent contractor, which in hindsight was the best way to choose a workplace.
After three months of working together one of the founders who is now my direct manager asked me to join and lead one of the projects. It was a very difficult decision to make but I thought the company was extremely interesting in that it had all of these ambitious ideas and everyone who worked there was so professional. Also, I liked the fact that the founders were highly experienced, knew how to make things happen, and had already made one tech exit."
Zur says that he loves the culture at Applitools. "Each employee has an important position and is taken very seriously," he says. "No one is micromanaged and everyone takes full ownership and responsibility for their own work. Everyone has a task to work on, which they can mold according to their personal take on things. This is in line with one of our values: creating the impossible.
We believe in 'winning together.' People show up to work as their best selves and come into the office with a smile even though sometimes we have to work under very stressful deadlines. At the end of the day, we all know how to help one another, be responsive and our managers never ask anyone to do something that is impossible or unreasonable."
One of the projects Zur came up with is called 'Story Time': "we all get together and each developer talks about their daily tasks, and what type of challenges they've been facing. The idea behind it is that if you come across that person in the hallway you'll be able to know what they do and talk to them about it."
Zur, who is also a certified Capoeira instructor, says he's found the perfect work-life balance by coming to work at the office between 4-5 days a week and leaving early twice a week to be with his kids. Since the pandemic started, Applitools has adopted a hybrid model with employees coming into the office every Tuesday as well as one more day a week, depending on what their teams choose. "Some people come in more often and others who prefer not to do not have to come in. On Tuesdays, the entire company comes into the office for a catered breakfast and it's become a celebration we all look forward to."
The company has gone on several retreats with the employees' significant partners but Zur says while he appreciates all the perks, it's the cutting edge solution that Applitools offers software developers that he is most passionate about. "As a tech guy myself I am essentially one of the product's users and I can understand its immense value. When you combine that with a very strong team of talented employees, management that has your back and cares about their employees, a strong financial backing and supportive partners, all the stars align."
Partnered with Applitools
