Kipsu recently welcomed Justin LeFurjah to our Engineering team. Prior to joining us, Justin lived in Norway for four years where he owned his own business doing Norwegian-English translation and brochureware sites. During that time, he also learned software engineering through classes at the University of Bergen. We're excited to watch him apply his universal expertise in software engineering at Kipsu. When we flagged down Justin to chat about his experience at Kipsu so far, this is what he had to say.
What drew you to Kipsu in contrast to other companies?
I applied at Kipsu because I have a background in the messaging space and recognized the success Kipsu was having. I also wanted to be part of a rapidly growing company and take on the kind of engineering challenges that come with scaling at speed. Once I started the interview process, I noticed right away that Kipsuvaians are an intelligent, driven, and friendly bunch. So it was really two things for me: Kipsu looked great on paper and I got the sense that I would love working with the people I met.
What were some things you noticed about the Kipsu engineering team during your first week?
Onboarding in engineering is well documented so you can gain a lot of knowledge on your own. On the other side, the team is very happy to discuss the codebase. So I learned a lot from both avenues. Other than that, I noticed that while everyone had a lot to do and was accomplishing a lot, no one seemed that much under pressure. For me, that is a sign quality leadership from the top of the company down. Kipsuvaians are trusted to take ownership over their tasks and get them over the line however they can do it best.
What challenges are you looking forward to tackling in your work at Kipsu?
I am looking forward to designing and building out some messaging mico-rservices, revamping our external facing API, and building new integrations for our partners. There is a lot of exciting work to do here.
What is your favorite Kipsu core value?
My favorite Kipsu core value is “Play the long game.” We are doing our best for our partners and each other right now to build lasting success for everyone.
What's the one thing in your development environment you can't live without?
I do a lot of work on APIs so software-wise Postman is a regular companion. My teammates introduced me to PhpStorm, which I am getting a lot of value out of as well. But I could do my job without either of those things. So I am going to say tea. Preferably green, but white will do in a pinch.
