Shubham Lingayat: Front-End Engineer Spotlight

We are thrilled to announce that RaftLabs has been chosen as the "Best Company to Work With" by GoodFirms.

At RaftLabs, we pride ourselves on creating a dynamic, innovative, and supportive workplace culture that fosters growth and success for our employees. As part of our ongoing commitment to excellence, we recently had the opportunity to sit down with one of our front-end engineers, Shubam, who has just completed one successful year at RaftLabs.

In this interview, Shubam shares his experience, insights, and thoughts on working at RaftLabs, his personal goals for the future, and his perspective on the ever-evolving world of technology.

Don't miss out on this valuable resource - read the interview below to learn more about Shubam's journey at RaftLabs!

Reflecting Back On Your First Year

Congratulations, Shubam, on completing your first year at RaftLabs! We are interested in hearing about your experiences and how you've developed over the past twelve months. With that in mind, please let us know your thoughts on working at RaftLabs as a front-end engineer.

I feel incredibly grateful to be a part of such an innovative and dynamic team at RaftLabs. As a front-end engineer, I have had the opportunity to work on exciting projects that challenge me to grow and expand my skill set continually. RaftLabs fosters a supportive and collaborative work environment, making communicating and working effectively with colleagues easy. The company also prioritizes employee well-being by offering flexible work arrangements and opportunities for professional development. Overall, I feel fortunate to be a part of such a fantastic team at RaftLabs, and I am excited to continue contributing to its growth and success.

Collaborative Culture

How is working with your colleagues at RaftLabs? What have you learned from working with them?

Well, if you plan to complete a task within a day, unexpected things might come up, which may cause a delay. So, I've learned to be prepared for unforeseen issues and be flexible with my schedule. From Sarang, my lead, I've learned the importance of writing down my thoughts. So, when I face any technical issue, I first try to write down the problem, and most of the time, I can figure out the solution. It is a helpful tip for new developers as well.

Experience with Client Calls

That's a great tip. As a developer, you must also attend client calls. How has that been for you?

I've had the opportunity to attend client calls with Brandfire and work on AldiFest. My project managers were very supportive and always had questions prepared in advance for the client. This helped me feel more confident during the calls.

New Tech Implementations

Can you tell us about some new technologies or tools that you have learned and implemented in the past year?

Over the past year, I've been focused on expanding my skillset as a front-end developer. One of the technologies I've been learning and implementing is TypeScript. This superset of JavaScript adds static typing, interfaces, classes, and other features that make writing and maintaining large-scale applications easier. By using TypeScript, I can catch potential errors early in the development process and ensure better code quality.

Another technology I've been working with is GraphQL, a query language for APIs that allows developers to specify the data they need from an API in a declarative manner. This enables more efficient data fetching, reduces the amount of data sent over the network, and ensures data consistency across the API.

Finally, I've been exploring the NX workspace, a development toolkit that provides best practices, tools, and techniques to help developers build scalable and high-quality applications. This includes tools for mono repo management, code generation, and plugin extensibility. Using NX, I can create more scalable applications with better code organization and structure. Overall, I'm excited about how these technologies and tools are helping me become a more effective and efficient front-end developer.

Work-Life Balance

As we are a remote company, can you rate your work-life balance on a scale of one to ten?

I rate it as a six, which is low partly due to my personal flaws. I don't know how the company can help with that. Three significant factors affect my work-life balance. Firstly, completing the assigned tasks, secondly, having a routine and fewer distractions. Lastly, self-discipline, especially when there are tasks from our website. I prepare an estimate of how long it will take to complete a task but often forget to include time for meetings. For example, if I estimate seven hours a day but have extra three hours of meetings, I end up working extra hours to complete the task. And the urgency and priority of the project also play a role in my work-life balance.

Influence of Company Values

Has the company's culture or values influenced your personal values or beliefs in any way? Can you give me some examples?

Yes, the company's culture has influenced me in honing my communication skills. We have a culture of being transparent and clear in our communication. If we know something, we should tell it right away; if we are unclear about something, we should ask and learn. I have implemented this in my personal life, and it has been helping me a lot. For example, communication is vital for proper coordination and strategy when communicating with my family or playing online multiplayer games with friends.

Personal Growth Through Mentorship

Have you had any opportunities to mentor or support new hires or interns at the company? If so, how has the experience impacted you personally?

Yes, I have had the opportunity to mentor a new hire named Meet, who was new to React. I helped him with tasks and recommended some books to learn from. Through this experience, I learned the importance of patience when helping others. It made me realize that everyone's grasping power is different and how they understand things is different. It's important to give them time to understand and to ask questions to clarify their assumptions. Doing this allowed me to communicate better with Meet and help her learn React effectively.

Key Takeaway

As you reflect on your first year at the company, what is one lesson or experience that you will carry with you into your personal life and why?

The first thing that comes to mind is my time at RaftLabs. I learned that everything is about people - we develop products for people and with people. Everyone has their own behaviors and enthusiasm levels; working with them is important.

Future Goals

How do you see the upcoming year at RaftLabs? How would you do things differently?

The upcoming year at RaftLabs will be thrilling as we aim to exceed our past achievements in digital projects. As a front-end engineer, I look forward to working on innovative projects with my team. I'm always striving for improvements and will focus on optimizing our project management to deliver the best results for our clients. Expecting a year of growth, success, and endless opportunities!

Technology Evolution

It sounds like, currently, you're focused on developing your skills and gaining more experience. You mentioned earlier that technology would change, but how we do things optimally will remain the same. Can you elaborate on that?

Yes, technology is constantly evolving, but the principles of problem-solving and optimization remain the same. As long as we continue to learn and adapt, we can apply these principles to new technologies and situations.

Amusing Asks

That's a great perspective. Now, we have an interesting question for you. What's the longest time you've taken to solve a bug?

Earlier in my career, I used to encounter small bugs that I could fix quickly. However, recently I came across a bug that was quite challenging from a technical standpoint. Although I wasn't working on it exclusively the whole week, it was on my mind constantly. It took me about a week to finally solve it.

Thank you so much for sharing your experiences and thoughts on working at RaftLabs. Your insights were incredibly valuable and provided a unique perspective on the challenges and opportunities of working in the technology industry. We appreciate your contributions and wish you continued success in your career.

Shubam's journey at RaftLabs highlights the importance of creating a positive and supportive workplace culture that values its employees. His insights into the ever-changing world of technology and his personal goals for the future demonstrate the kind of dynamic and innovative thinking that RaftLabs encourages in its team members.

As a company that is committed to excellence, RaftLabs recognizes the vital role that each team member plays in driving its success and will continue to prioritize their well-being, growth, and development.

We hope that Shubam's experience has provided valuable insights into working at RaftLabs and inspires others to join us on this exciting journey.

Riya Thambiraj

Creative content writer at RaftLabs