In the corridors of… Codigree

A few years ago, a group of five friends joined together to create and manage the blog of one of them, Paulo Rebelo, one of the most recognized Portuguese betting traders, being himself the great promoter and investor of the project.

The stability and security granted by Rebelo, and two years of sustainable growth, led to the opportunity to launch the website www.academiadasapostas.com. This project allowed them, above all, to enter other markets besides trading, but always inside the niche of sports betting, the core business of the company.

Codigree as we know it today came out some time later in 2015. The management of the Academia das Apostas website stopped being the main concern, since the website has been well implemented, requiring only for regular updates, opening doors for the development of other internal projects and solutions and supports for other companies.

This allowed the company employees to increase their motivation due to the different new challenges, and also enabled them and Codigree itself to take advantage of the know-how obtained in outsourcing to improve internal products and contents.

Headquarters & Human Resources

Exactly two years ago the District Porto was inaugurated, an innovative business center installed in the heart of the city, next to the National Theater São João and Batalha Square. However, the first “tenants” of the space had already settled a few months ago in those facilities, including Codigree.

According to Rui Barbosa, responsible for the programming sector, and Joana Linhas, responsible for the marketing and communications strategy, the Codigree team even “helped” to build the District Offices & Lifestyle, since the restoration works were not completely finished when they settled there.

In fact, as soon as we come across the façade of the building that welcomes companies from a wide range of industries, such as fashion, design, real estate, among others, we realize that there is a mix of past, present and future. The style is neoclassical, but the work developed inside is focused on the future.

Going through the corridors, that mix a completely white ceiling and walls occasionally ornamented with colourful tiles, we arrive at the offices of Codigree. A team of 15 people welcomes the guests with wide open smiles. Besides the team that operates in the “headquarters”, the company also has ten content producers installed in Viseu, Azores and Brazil.

Porto Tech Hub

Codigree’s entry into the Porto Tech Hub Association was suggested by Joana Linhas on her arrival in 2016.

Two years later, Codigree positively evaluates the inclusion in this core of technological companies based in Porto that, increasingly, should be recognized and identified as a hub of excellence for nationally and internationally renowned companies.

In addition to this greater recognition of Porto as a technological hub, Codigree’s goal as a PTH partner is also to increase cooperation and to promote the exchange of privileged technical information among all members, taking advantage of the know-how of employees of different companies in a wide range of areas.

The relationship between Codigree, and especially Rui Barbosa, with another of the PTH Association initiatives is quite curious. Rui graduated in Civil Engineering, but acquired the knowledge and developed programming competences in the… SWitCH program. He integrated the first group of the program, the company’s current program manager aimed to ensure that there was a management member with sufficient programming knowledge to take on responsibilities and make sensitive decisions in projects in that area. Much study and commitment have led Rui to complete the course of SWitCH successfully and nowadays, about half of his day is spent in programming.

The very positive feedback about PTH’s professional requalification program led the company to welcome and accommodate an intern from the 1st edition of SWITCH, which demonstrates confidence in the skills acquired by the students throughout the course. Of course, as Rui Barbosa affirms, commitment and dedication are essential to be successful in this program, since this is just the “kick-off” for a career in this area.