Pinkoi 2022 Open House for GenZ — 15 Mins Career Talk
Pinkoi Developers’ Night 2022 Year-End Exchange Meeting — 15 Minutes Career Sharing Talk
Pinkoi Developers’ Night 2022 Year-End Exchange Meeting
Event Link: Linkedin
Main Audience: Students from various universities and colleges majoring in information-related fields
Location and Time: 2022/12/01 7:00 PM — 9:00 PM
Sharing Duration: 15 mins
About Me
Currently serving as Pinkoi Platform (App) Engineer Lead and iOS Engineer, previously worked at StreetVoice, Addcn Technology (listed company 5287), Startup; self-taught web programming since vocational high school, won the National Skills Competition web design category championship and was a reserve national representative, graduated from the Department of Information Management at National Taiwan University of Science and Technology, transitioned to iOS App development in 2017.
Passionate about exploration and technical exchange, also writes about daily life or unboxing experiences, welcome to follow my Medium Blog.
Pinkoi Engineer Daily Life — Products
Pinkoi products support desktop, mobile, iOS, Android platforms, and six languages: Traditional Chinese, Hong Kong Traditional, Simplified Chinese, Japanese, Thai, and English.
Behind the scenes, there are 8+ squad teams responsible for different aspects of work, such as: Buyer Squad for the buyer side, Seller Squad for the seller side, Platform Squad for the underlying platform, AI Squad for algorithms, etc., working together to build Pinkoi products.
Pinkoi Engineer Daily Life — Tools
Note: This image does not represent a comprehensive or up-to-date Tech Stack
To do a good job, one must first sharpen one’s tools. The above image lists the Tech Stack and tools/services used by the Pinkoi development team; it also lists cross-team collaboration tools such as Slack, Asana, Figma, etc.
As the team size grows, there will be more times when communication or repetitive work is needed. At this time, by introducing tool services, we can effectively untangle the connections between people and increase team work efficiency.
Pinkoi Engineer Daily — Behind the “Success” and “Merit”
At Pinkoi, although engineers are assigned to various Squad Teams, they still work together with one heart, Win as a team, we are still the same family.
Pinkoi Engineer Daily — Behind the “Success” and “Merit”
Teammates with the same functions (e.g. iOS/Android/BE/FE/Data…) not only hold regular technical exchange sharing sessions, but also conduct Code Reviews and System Design discussions in daily development; discussing together, growing together!
The “Guai Guai” tattoo sticker in the middle of the picture is a blessing ceremony for the launch of the team’s “Gift List” feature and the “2022 Pinkoi Design Fest” event, ensuring the service is safe and stable.
How do Engineers help advance business goals?
In addition to completing tasks, Engineers have many ways to help advance business goals:
First, aside from the Engineer role, starting from oneself; we can propose our own life usage experiences and various creative ideas during the project planning period. For example, observing friends’ usage habits or new trendy cool things (e.g. iOS 16 Dynamic Island), brainstorming together might turn an ordinary feature into a new highlight!
Then back to engineering itself, the first is of course the essential development ability. Good development ability can maintain scalability and stability, reduce technical debt, and lower future maintenance costs, indirectly increasing business value. Similarly, the correct technical choices can maximize value with limited development resources; all these require a lot of hard skills and experience accumulation.
In addition, leveraging communication and coordination skills can make cross-engineering discussions more efficient, and leveraging collaboration skills can reduce rework; all can greatly increase team output and further advance business goals.
In summary, engineers definitely do not only create value by writing code.
How do Engineers help advance business goals?
At Pinkoi, Squad Team Sync-ups or project discussion meetings involve not only engineers but also designers, PMs, and analysts, participating in project discussions together; everyone can propose their own ideas, sparking different inspirations.
As an Engineer, why choose to join a startup culture rather than a traditional large company…?
From personal experience, startup culture (also in Pinkoi) has five characteristics:
- Transparency Everyone can clearly know the company’s operating status, decisions, and future plans.
- Equality Flat management, no hierarchical pressure. Everyone can express opinions and participate in discussions regardless of position.
- Vision Grow with the team, from a small team to an international team, broadening horizons. Combining transparency and equality, you can understand more aspects of the details.
- Flexibility - Flexibility in work: Flexible working hours, WFH flexibility, or flexible discussion space in communication and collaboration. - Flexibility in roles: More flexibility to try different possibilities. More flexibility for promotions.
- Vibrancy The average age is relatively young and energetic, making it easier to resonate and spark ideas, and more likely to promote and accept changes.
These characteristics are relatively rare in traditional large companies. Traditional companies are mostly more closed and rigid, with little room for suggestions, limited things to see and do, and more resistant to new changes and attempts; it is relatively difficult for energetic newcomers to perform.
A little advice for fresh graduates who want to become software engineers…
Engineer at 28 vs. Engineer at 46 (Elon Musk was also an engineer); although it’s a meme, it means that what kind of engineer you want to become is up to you.
A little advice for fresh graduates who want to become software engineers…
Besides having lean development skills, I believe the mindset is even more important. Life is a journey with many stages and roles to fulfill. The first is to constantly step out of your comfort zone and be prepared to face higher challenges. For example, I initially started as a backend engineer, then transitioned to iOS development, and now I’m starting to take on management roles.
The second is the exploration of direction. Do not limit yourself; everyone has infinite possibilities. You can continuously adjust to find the direction that suits you and shine in your area of expertise. We have teammates who switched to engineering later in their careers or transitioned from designers to PMs. Additionally, think about what role you want to play at 30 or 40 years old, such as continuing to delve into technology to become an architect/Tech Lead or taking on management roles.
Also, lifelong learning is essential. Knowledge is endless, especially in the information industry, which is ever-changing. Without seeking innovation and change, it’s easy to be eliminated by the industry.
Lastly, maintaining a balance between work and life is also crucial. Work Hard, Play Hard not only improves work efficiency but also allows you to draw inspiration from life experiences. As mentioned earlier, a small idea might change the world and create higher commercial value!
I advise newcomers to choose carefully for their first few jobs. The sunk cost is very low when you first enter society. Prioritize finding a job where you can learn something. Try to join companies that develop their own products (e.g., Pinkoi /Line/StreetVoice…) and avoid changing jobs too frequently (stay for at least a year). This will be very beneficial for your future career.
Life is long, and I hope everyone finds their own path. Thank you.
Join Pinkoi now »> https://www.pinkoi.com/about/careers
Behind the Scenes
If you have any questions or feedback, feel free to contact me.
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This article was first published in Traditional Chinese on Medium ➡️ View Here
