How long have you been with Goji? What is your role at the company?
I have been at Goji for almost a year. I joined as a Senior Software Engineer, and I recently started my new role as Engineering Squad Lead!
Give us the inside scoop – what are some of the unique aspects of working at Goji?
While Goji has grown significantly over the last year and a half, we still hold on to our start-up roots. I think it's fantastic that we can just go over to the CEO, CFO, or any member of the senior leadership team for a chat, and they will make time for us.
I’ve found that the people at Goji are all genuinely lovely humans who aren’t afraid to also be candid and honest.
What has your experience been like with working on your team?
I am a member of the newest engineering team at Goji, which formed just over 6 months ago. Our domain is authentication, authorization, user management, and permissions, which are all very interesting problems.
My team is an incredibly talented group of people and I’m really proud of the progress we’ve made and the work we’ve delivered so far!
Do you have a favourite memory from working here?
I’m on the social committee, so I get to contribute ideas and help with the organisation of socials. At one of the first social events I participated in, I was in charge of organising activities. I had the idea to run a rock-paper-scissors tournament, with a big cash prize for the winner. The atmosphere built up as the tournament went on, culminating in an intense battle of wits between the CFO and a senior engineer for first place! The engineer was eventually crowned victorious after an impressive performance throughout the entire tournament. It was a fun event and a good memory for me.
What was your dream job as a child? Tell us a bit about your journey to where you are today.
As a child I never settled on a single dream job and at various points I wanted to be a musician, astronomer, writer, and even a botanist (I was a weird kid)! By the time university rolled around I still hadn’t decided what I wanted to do.
To keep my options open, I studied Physics for the problem-solving challenges involved. As a lifelong player of video games, I became interested in programming to make my own games, and I ended up loving the fact that software development is basically problem solving with creative licence! I started making games during my degree which helped me to get a role as a graduate software engineer at a tech consultancy and have been enjoying the job ever since.
What would you do if you had unlimited free time?
I would love to spend more time making music and doing sports - if I could play tennis and go bouldering every day, I would be very happy!
I’d also love to do more software development side projects - it feels great to use the skills you build up during your career and apply them to your own creations.
In 2024, your title advanced from Senior Software Developer to Engineering Team Lead. How have your roles and responsibilities developed since this change?
I think the main change is that I have gone from being an individual contributor to being an enabler for my team. Rather than concentrating my efforts on a single piece of work, I now spend most of my time unblocking my team, planning ahead to make sure things run smoothly in the future, and coordinating with other teams. The challenges now are not only technical but operational and cultural, but I'm enjoying having a wider variety of problems to solve!