“I believe it’s so important to be authentically me and through that I find my passion shines.”
Kendra Riddle, an Intermediate Developer at CloudSmiths, a Dynamic Technologies company, is the joint winner of the inaugural CloudSmiths Rookie of the Year award. Introduced for the first time in 2021, Rookie of the Year is awarded to an employee who has been at the company for less than two years and who is voted by their peers as their favourite choice. Kendra won the award together with her colleague Tukelo Moseamo for making a significant impact and going above and beyond the requirements of their portfolios.
As a full-stack software developer on the Salesforce Platform, Kendra specialises in building solutions for clients across various industries. During the solution design phase, she gets to work closely with senior developers and solutions architects, which stimulates her as a developer.
Along with a strong work ethic and a passion for her job, Kendra is constantly learning and challenging herself to grow her skills. Motivated by ongoing skills development, problem solving and conquering challenges, Kendra says she has the will to win. This doesn’t always mean finishing first, but rather feeling like you’ve got the best result for all the work you put in.
Kendra says, “I joined CloudSmiths as a Junior Developer in 2020 after graduating from university. I was new to the Salesforce Platform and spent my first few weeks upskilling as much as possible. Within the first three months of joining CloudSmiths, I was put on my first project and with some brilliant minds supporting me, I completed the project as the primary developer. It was an incredibly rewarding experience. Since then, I have had the opportunity to work on many amazing projects, which have challenged me and allowed me to grow as a developer and upskill on the Salesforce platform. I have been lucky enough to not only develop, but also be involved in the solution design phase. I am now an intermediate developer and look forward to what the future holds.”
It means a great deal to Kendra to be part of the CloudSmiths team. She says, “CloudSmiths has given me all the tools to grow, and I am extremely grateful for the opportunities provided to me. To be able to work with such incredible minds every day is a rare opportunity.”
For Kendra, being named Rookie of the Year is about hard work and passion. She says, “Learn, be curious, take the initiative. Complacency and comfort are a trap when there is so much room for growth and to be or do better.” One of the quotes she lives by comes courtesy of Albert Einstein – “I am neither especially clever nor especially gifted. I am only very, very curious.”
For Kendra, the future is bright. As she says, “My goals are to continue growing and learning, and ultimately to find my path and where I’d like to specialise one day. The possibilities are endless.”