Hi Chia, can you tell us more about your role at Flagright?
I'm a software engineer at Flagright. Basically, what I do is make product requirements come true.
Have you always wanted to work as a software engineer? What's the story behind that?
Before entering college, I didn't think about being a software engineer at all. Then I entered college and majored in computer science, and I found it quite interesting. Since then, I've followed the path to becoming a software engineer naturally.
You've been with Flagright from its inception; how did you, Madhu, and Baran meet?
I think all of us arrived in Berlin in the same year (2018), and we were colleagues working together in Forto. Then we left for different companies afterward. And in October 2021, Baran and Madhu invited me to dinner, shared the cool thing they were doing, and invited me to join. I was a bit hesitant in the beginning, but finally, I decided to join because, YOLO, and I thought it would be a unique and interesting experience.
What are your thoughts on Flagright's progress so far, looking back on how it all began?
We started literally from scratch at the beginning of 2022 and built the MVP in a couple of months and have iterated on the product at a fast pace since then. I'm grateful that we have a couple of customers willing to trust us and bet on us. We've already achieved some milestones so far, but there's still a long way to go. If we're on a rocket, we're not in space yet. If we don't make the rocket thrust, we can't make it to space.
What does a typical day of work for you look like?
Since we have many things to build, writing code takes a big part of my day. Other than coding, I could write technical documentation, and do code reviews.
Tell us about something you learned while working at Flagright that has helped you improve personally.
I think one thing I learned is real ownership. In other bigger companies, you could own a feature. But in Flagright, you feel ownership of everything, and every decision you make will literally make a lot of difference. Because the impact we're making is phenomenal, you'll feel you should make a better decision and make it right.
What do you do to unwind when you're not writing codes and technical docs?
I have a small dog (Eva), and I enjoy taking her out for a walk. And I like biking. Sometimes I'll bike to a remote city, enjoying the view along the way.
How would you describe your position at Flagright to a younger engineer?
My position's responsibility is to transform the product ideas into the real code running in the machines, which creates value for our customers.
Tell us about your favorite part of your job at Flagright.
My favorite part is dealing with unknowns. There are many new features we need to do, and there are many performance and scalability issues we need to worry about. Tackling them is interesting to me.
What are your thoughts on the compliance industry and Flagright's solution?
Compliance is complicated but important. Doing it right will make a big difference for fintechs and fintech startups. However, fintech startups often don't have the proper resources to deal with compliance as it doesn't drive revenue as much as they’d like. Flagright offers a unique solution for fintech and startups to offload their compliance problems to us, as that's what we do and we can do it best.