Hi, this is Sofia from the LiLz engineering team. Today, I'd like to provide you with an insider's perspective on our engineering team. I'll guide you through the workflow we diligently uphold, the values we cherish, and how LiLz fosters the professional growth of our engineers.

I will touch upon the following areas:

Our team

I work with a bunch of extremely talented engineers from across the globe. First, let me introduce you to my team. It comprises four members and is a very diverse team as each one of us is originally from 4 different countries. Our Chief Technical Officer (CTO), Kuba, is from Poland. He is mainly responsible for all architectural design, large portions of cloud infrastructure, the deployment process, and numerous implementation aspects. He also reviews code, helps junior engineers with their tasks, and supervises the team. Our senior developer, Nishime san, is from Japan. He mostly takes on tough and big tasks. He also takes part in important architectural decisions and helps younger engineers with their tasks. Eric is from Canada, and lastly, I am from Bangladesh. Currently, both Eric and I are working as junior developers in the company. We work on different development tasks like adding new features to the application, enhancing performance, creating invoke commands for internal use, and others. Currently, three of us are working from Japan, while Eric is working from Canada. Each member of our team functions as a full-stack developer. We believe that dividing the team into frontend and backend roles would only widen the gap, potentially leading to delays in our development timeline

WorkFlow

Creation of New Issue:
Currently, we use GitHub issues to maintain our tasks. A new issue is created if there is a new feature request from the business side, or if a bug is reported, or if we feel the need to enhance any feature or performance. There is no restriction as to who’s responsible for creating the issue. Anyone from the customer support, business team, or developer’s team can create a new issue on GitHub.

Task Assignment:
When a new request comes from the business side, it usually goes to our CTO or senior developer Nishime san. He assesses and confirms the feasibility before delegating it to other team members. Generally, our CTO handles task assignments, but if a team member expresses interest in a specific issue, they are encouraged to volunteer and self-assign to the task. 

Task Implementation:
After a task is assigned to a developer, the first step is to chalk out the plan to implement it. This is a very important step, a step that I carefully learnt after joining the Lilz. As a junior developer, I used to have the habit of diving into implementation without proper planning. For substantial tasks, it's crucial to plan and break down the work into smaller, more manageable pieces. This approach facilitates easier review and reduces the risk of introducing new bugs. Typically, the plan is reviewed and confirmed by Kuba. Once approved, we proceed with the implementation.

Code Integration:
For code integration, we use the GitHub CI pipeline where our application goes through a number of tests that check for indentation, styling, and test each endpoint and function. After PR passes all tests, the assigned reviewer checks through the code and requests changes in the code. Starting from variable names to implementation methods, the code is strictly reviewed and ensured if the code has been implemented in the most efficient DRY approach. The code is only merged into the master after all the reviewers approve of the changes.

Values of our team

At LiLz, we adhere to three guiding principles:

• Embracing mistakes is acceptable.

• Seeking assistance is encouraged.

• Engaging in constructive discussions is valued, especially when opinions differ.

These three principles create an ideal work environment for engineers to collaborate, learn and thrive as a team at LiLz. I express my gratitude to my team members for consistently being supportive and respectful in our collaborative work.

How LiLz nurtures the growth of its Engineers

LiLz follows the 80-20 rules where employees spend 80% of their work time on the core project, get 20% of their time to self-study. So, LiLz encourages its engineers to always be on the learning curve. Is this principle ideal for a startup? Our Founder, Onishi san has written an elaborate article on this topic. Feel free to check out his article.

LiLz also provides you with books that you’re interested in. The book recommendation may come from your fellow colleague or from our CTO Kuba. If you want to use the time to solve online problems or study for a certification examination, that is also very much appreciated.

We conduct one-on-one meetings with the CTO twice a year. However, if anyone feels the need for more frequent meetings, they can readily request Mr Kuba for additional sessions. In addition to the one-on-ones, we also hold a monthly developer's meeting. During this gathering, we share our achievements from the previous month, discuss ongoing tasks, and address any topics aimed at enhancing the team's efficiency.

Conclusion

In conclusion, the Lilz engineering team operates within a dynamic and inclusive workflow that emphasizes collaboration, continuous learning, and adaptability. Our diverse team brings a rich mix of perspectives and experiences to the table. We function as a united front, distributing responsibilities across the team rather than confining them to specific roles.

Furthermore, we are actively seeking new members to join our team. If you are interested in becoming a part of our company at any of the following openings feel free to drop by and say Hi   👋
https://herp.careers/v1/lilz