The Lizard Family consists of a broad variety of cross-functional professionals, specialized in what they do best, from sales and marketing to design and software development. In order to give you an idea of what a day at Lizard Global looks like, we have a look at our various departments and their daily tasks in the office. This time, we dive into the worlds of our skilled developers, and their experience as a software developer at Lizard Global.

Our close-knit crack team of software developers is stationed in our office in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. They have a broad knowledge of the latest programming languages and technologies. Working in a fast paced startup environment allows them to interact with all sorts of products and departments. They can take the knowledge from those experiences to apply to the projects they’re working on themselves.

Software engineering at Lizard Global

As a software engineer at Lizard Global, you’re responsible for the technical development of an app. This involves estimating how much time will be needed to develop certain features and solutions, proposing and implementing technical options for complex technical issues, and the delivery of projects within a defined budget. Software developers transform user stories and designs into an actual functioning application.

A typical day of a software engineer at Lizard Global starts with a standup where the team discusses the tasks that need to be done on that day. Because we work agile and our software developers are closely involved in our scrum sprints, they are usually present during standups, sprint reviews, sprint meetings, and general sprint discussions. The rest of the day is filled with reading and understanding user stories and project briefs, coding, implementing new or improved features, finding and fixing bugs, and testing the coded work. At the end of a busy day, the team often comes together to reflect on the day with a cold Tiger beer or Barbican on the side.

Codes and tools

Javascript is our preferred coding language with the benefit of creating reusable code for both front- and backend. Backend code will run on a Node.js server with Express.js, while we use React (JS/Native) as our UI framework for the front-end. However, since no two projects are the same, we have experience with a myriad of other frameworks and libraries that we incorporate into our solutions, depending on the project scope.
We use tools like Google Cloud Platform to upload and run our applications and websites. This way, we don’t have to manage our own server infrastructure, which saves a significant amount of time and money. Next to that, we use Ant Design Library to provide ourselves with high-quality components for our website. Most of the tools we use are continuously changing with new technological advancements.

Meet the Lizards: Chathuri - Technical Solutions Consultant

In our previous interview with senior software engineer Kenny, we already gave you an insight into the daily lives of our development team. This time, we sat down with Chathuri, our technical solutions consultant and team lead stationed in our office in Kuala Lumpur. With her passion for technology, gadgets, programming and clean code, she makes sure every piece of written code within the company is of optimal quality.

Can you give a little introduction of yourself, and tell us how and when Lizard Global came on your path?

“I was born and bred in Sri Lanka. With the intention to further my studies, I came to Malaysia to study Mechatronics Engineering. This was my first encounter into technology and computer programming and I enjoyed it immensely. After my higher studies, I went back to Sri Lanka with the hopes of giving back to the local industry. Unfortunately, the Mechatronics field in Sri Lanka was at its infancy, and I couldn't find a job role to fit my knowledge area. That’s why I stepped into the ICT field, which still allowed me to be a programmer, minus the cool gadgets (like sensors and actuators) that I used as an Engineering Student.”

“My first job was at Affno, Sri Lanka, as a Software Engineer. I was the developer for the company’s first mobile application, and this was my first taste into app development. After a couple of years of working in Sri Lanka, I came back to settle down in Malaysia. During my first job here in 2014, I came across Lizard Global (back then still known as Lizard Apps) through a job advert. I was looking for a change in my career and I decided to apply for the offered position of Software Engineer.”

What is your function at Lizard Global? Can you describe some tasks you're usually working on?

“At the moment, I am taking on two roles: one as a Team Lead for the technical team and another as a Technical Solutions Consultant for the commercial team. At Lizard Global, the development team KPIs are focused on three core aspects: code, speed and quality. As a team lead, it is my responsibility to monitor this at an individual level and a team level, and make sure that the code we create is secure, reusable, maintainable among other things. So, besides writing code myself, I also have the responsibility to review the codes of my team to ensure that we deliver quality code within a given time frame. Recently I also took up the role as Technical Solutions Consultant, where I actively participate in client meetings to understand requirements and manage expectations based on technical feasibility. I took on this role with an effort to tap into the extrovert in me.”

“I enjoy meeting new people, listening to new ideas and being a part of bringing these ideas into solutions that revolutionize the digital world.”

What is your favorite tool you work with, and why?

“I don’t really have one single favorite tool. However, as a part of the development team, we need to work with multiple platforms, libraries and tools on a daily basis to be able to write/maintain/deploy code, monitor progress, and track time of our daily tasks. At LizardGlobal, our preferred technical architecture varies between React, Firebase and MERN (MongoDB, Express, React, Node), depending on the complexity of the project. So, I mostly work with these technologies for our web applications and in addition use React Native for our mobile applications. When it’s time for a product release for a mobile application, I also use Gradle and XCode toolkits to build platform-specific packages to submit to Google Play Store and AppStore. On top of that, collaboration and devop tools are used daily, to ensure CI/CD pipelines (continuous integration and continuous deployment) of our projects.”

What do you like most about working at Lizard Global?

“When I was looking to change my job back in 2014, I was looking for a place with a multinational environment, which I thought would help me fit in better as a foreigner. At the first interview with Lizard Global (then Lizard Apps), I realised that, although the company had a small team, it consisted of employees from all over the world. This was exactly what I was looking for! Apart from the multi-cultural team that Jeremy and Guido have gathered, the management strategies such as an open door policy, freedom and flexibility have also made working at Lizard Global a very pleasant one.”

“I love that we can explore our interests and have the freedom to shout out ideas and be heard.”

“A good example of this freedom was when I wanted to test out waters in the commercial department, which was an area I had no experience in yet. But the management was more than willing to let me try it out. I believe that they can offer this freedom and flexibility because they can trust the team. It is great to be a part of such an amazing team where everyone is working towards making the company better. Instead of working in silos, we work together to grow together. Last but not least, I am given the opportunity to work on challenging yet interesting projects. The success of these projects reflects on the clients’ reviews we receive, and that has always been a huge motivation for the team and me. So, as you can see, It's hard to pick one thing I like most about working at Lizard Global. It’s a combination of factors that makes being a part of the Lizard Family, a great one!”

Where do you see yourself in 5 years?

“With the company’s vision in becoming the “World’s Leading Digital Partner”, I have no doubt that Lizard Global will make its presence in all continents and possibly set up operations in each continent in the coming years. While I’m at a point in my career where I am trying to choose between commercial or technical or both, I definitely see myself working with the team to make the company’s vision become a reality.”

“In the technical department, I see my future self as a solutions architect with the knowledge and experience to architect a successful solution with the latest technologies, and articulate it to the team so that they can deliver a state-of-the art product. We also started developing in-house products recently, and I see myself taking the lead in a couple of those projects and continuously upgrading the product to fit the market need. In the commercial department, I would like to see myself having the right knowledge and experience, to be able to answer all questions from current and potential customers, be able to build confidence in them, and help them believe in Lizard Global as much as I do.”

Meet more Lizards!

Want to know more about our different departments, our individual Lizard Family members and their daily occupations? Check out our previous interviews with our CEO and CO-founder Jeremy, our CTO and Co-founder Guido, our CEO Asia Terence, our Product Owner Jordi, and our Senior Software Engineer Kenny. Keep an eye out for more interviews and find out more about our unique and skilled Lizards!