The Baltic Sea, the fresh air, and great company (aka our Ruby on Rails application development specialists) made for the perfect setting for our team retreat! Our latest company retreat was a wonderful 3 days in Tricity, Poland, spent packing in as much fun as possible.
Every year for company retreats, we try to visit a different part of Poland; this time, we hopped across the famous three cities in Tricity: Gdynia, Gdańsk, and Sopot; each day, we experienced a new city and new attractions. Our Ruby on Rails application development specialists retreat in a nutshell: crazy activities, chilling out, laughing, and learning new things. Check out more details and photos below - enjoy reading! :)
Day 1 – Electric Go-Karts in Gdańsk
On each of our retreats, we organized an activity to get our competitive juices flowing, so go-karting was the perfect choice. We chose the track in Gdańsk; luckily, it was placed in a hall - after we jumped out of our taxis, it started to rain cats and dogs. Our adventure began with a brief about the safety rules of using the track and handling the vehicles. Some of the team admitted that it wasn't their first time on the karts, and some even took the gloves. That was a nice strategy!
The first round was a chance for us to get familiar with the track and the karts. The electric version of go-karts gives the owner the chance to control everyone's power and speed, so if someone behaves in a dangerous way, he can make them slower or even turn off the vehicle. The 2nd round was a serious race because the result decided who got to the final stage. It was really speedy, everyone felt a big adrenaline rush, and it was heaps of fun! Luckily, no one crashed, and everyone played fair. The guys from the staff informed us that we were pretty good compared to other groups who visit them - which of course made us very proud of ourselves. It's only fitting that we, primarily a Ruby on Rails development company, also excelled as "Developers on Karts"!
Results from the comp were so, so close! Finally, we selected the winners - just look at their smiles in the photo:
One more photo of the whole team together; everyone is satisfied!
On arriving at the Gdańsk city center, we realized that it was particularly beautiful and decided to find a good viewpoint - so the big wheel seemed like the natural choice. The ride took about 15 minutes, and it was enough to see almost every part of Tricity - and shoot a few nice photos as well. Some of us decided to stay safely grounded instead and chill out on the sunbeds below - enjoying the beautiful weather and fresh Baltic air.
Afterward, it was time to take in the rest of the sights of the city, checking out the beautiful river, monuments, street art, cafe scene, and architecture - along with plenty of snaps taken along the way, of course. We even decided to do a spontaneous pit stop at the irresistible Art School of Gdańsk, where we admired modern art pieces. In the evening was play time, where we brought a few board games to play in a bigger group - a super fun night after a big day touring around the city.
Day 2 – Sopot and Sushi Workshop Time
The whole team was excited for day 2 because, as Samurai (Ronin), we wanted to master the art of sushi making. The workshop started with a sushi history lesson and some basics about different sushi types. For example, we've learned that to get the highest possible Japanese sushi certification, you have to work on your skills for 20 years! The second part of the training was safety rules - we were using very sharp knives, after all. We had the opportunity to prepare 3 kinds of sushi: hosomaki, futomaki, and California maki.
The last part of the workshop was a contest. We could choose our favorite kind of sushi and prepare it in the most precise way - only the appearance, not flavor, was judged. We were fully focused; everyone wanted to win. Some of us created crazy art installations, whereas some chose precision as their main strategy. Finally, precision and simplicity were the winners - the tidiest rolls made using basic rules won! Congrats to our CEO, Cyprian, and our Ruby on Rails developer, Mateusz!
Each of us received a Sushi Master certification, and while it's not required to succeed in your career at iRonin, it's still very useful! At the very end, we had a photo taken in our company-branded aprons:
Next up was visiting the famous pier and the city center, still with perfect weather. We spent most of the afternoon on the great pier, chilling together, chatting and laughing - priceless!
4 of the team decided it was time to do something more physical, so they rented bikes. They had a fun 14 km ride and then could eat anything for dinner with a clear conscience! The dinner itself was sturgeon - a tasty fish which was also a kind of attraction, considering its impressive size. That was our last night spent together, and it was hard to think about leaving the next day.
See You Next Time!
Sunday's breakfast was goodbye time and some fun post-retreat analysis with the team. Everybody agreed that the weekend was great, and we can't wait for the next one - we are still looking back at the photos and videos today! We hope this has brought you just a little taste of the atmosphere we got to experience on our retreat. If you would like to join us at our expert web application developers company retreat and participate in our everyday challenges, please apply to join us - we are planning retreats full of fun again soon.
