Meet Our Colleagues

01 February 2021

Basic profile

Name: Sumanta
Joined year: 2012
Current roles: Senior software engineer / Product owner
Technology that my teams use: Java/React/Redux-Saga/AWS: (Lambda/DynamoDB/Cognito/Route 53)/etc.
Hobby: Video games (The Last of Us 2, Call of Duty, etc.)/Learning (I earned an MBA while working)

“Every day is the first day”

Sumanta joined Works Applications Singapore 8 years ago as one of the office’s initial members.

“Every day is the first day” is my motto.
I try to learn new things even in my daily tasks, and I enjoy it.
I also feel motivated by Works Applications’ style of embracing new technologies.

“Our mission is to release customers from the burdens of handling paperwork”

My team develops Electronic Books Management (EBM) Service, a file hosting service for the accounting business domain, dealing with receipt or invoice. Due to the nature of accounting businesses, the user operations are strictly controlled under laws and regulations. We have a good understanding of such regulations as we work closely with our knowledgeable consultant team.

Also, when we design the system, we discuss which technology we should adopt, considering the use case of the users. Works Applications is good at embracing new technologies. For example, we have adopted Elasticsearch and NoSQL technologies such as Cassandra or DynamoDB. In addition, we have also been shifting to serverless technologies such as AWS Lambda since 2018. Our aim is to consistently improve our customers’ productivity by utilizing both our business understanding and technological knowledge.

“Enterprise product development is more complex and challenging”

Sumanta shared his thoughts on the difference between enterprise and consumer system
development, and why it is worth working on.

Our products are for enterprise users. Enterprise products are more challenging and complex than consumer products because of the wide variety of information we have to support, such as multiple roles of users and business concerns including regulations.

Also, data migration from the customers’ previous system is essential and it determines the project success. The integration with other systems is important in keeping the business running as well. Errors or delays in such operations or systems may sometimes result in compliance issues. Therefore, robustness in the product and operation design is very important.

For instance, I once asked the customer to describe their current operation of handling expense reports. As I analyzed the operation, I realized we can eliminate some unnecessary operational steps by  introducing a new feature to our product. The new feature made the customer’s operation very simple and reduced operational errors, while saving the cost of third party services previously required.

Therefore, it is necessary to have not just technological skills, but also business insight as well in order to develop our products. These are the kinds of special skills you can only learn from working on enterprise systems.

Yes, it is challenging, but it is also a fun part of work. 🙂

“I try to see whether developers enjoy their work”

Sumanta has been a team manager since 2016.
He shared with us what his communication style as a manager is like.

I see whether developers enjoy their work or not. Forming a team where members are enjoying their work is an important factor to perform well and maximize productivity.

That’s why I try to create psychological safety, an atmosphere where people can ask anything at any time without any pressure. I try to encourage positive vibes in the team. For example, text messages don’t contain emotion, so I try to video-call people as much as possible while working from home. Even with text messages, I use emoji to make myself look friendly and polite.☺

Here is my advice.

If you fail, don’t hide the problem. Share whatever you tried during a One-On-One meeting. I will help you. This approach is the best for all members including myself.

“You try hard, we try harder to help you”

We asked him about the culture of Works Applications.

Works Applications has a flat hierarchical organizational culture. That means you can contribute to your team, company, and customers beyond your given role.

Our company does not expect you to be a cog in the machine, simply doing your given tasks and nothing else. Instead, we encourage you to go out of the box, regardless of your position or department . We won’t stop your actions if it is done to solve problems, and people will support you if you are doing the right thing. The good thing about our company is that it does not evaluate employees solely by the
results.

Even if you fail, you will get another opportunity to try again. It is one of the reasons why people enjoy working here. If you are that type of person, this is the right place for you.
(*) Works Applications code of conduct


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