PROFILE:
- PROJECT: Mail Dealer
- NAME: Phan Thi Le
- POSITION: Senior Software Engineer
Joining Rakus Vietnam since July 2019, Ms. Le has promoted from Junior to her current Senior Software Engineer position. Let’s listen to her sharing about the work and challenges in one of the largest system projects at Rakus.
—– At that time, what made you decide to join Rakus Vietnam?
Before joining Rakus, I had experience working with two Vietnamese companies, environments that focused on developing small and medium-sized products, usually following partners’ orders and developing once and then done.
When I made the decision to work for Rakus Vietnam, I hoped to be challenged by working on larger products that have many features. Furthermore, I love the job of creating high-quality products and continuously upgrading their functions according to version changes. In addition, after getting married, my career goal is to develop myself in depth in a stable working environment.
—– Please kindly describe a little about your job content and role at the company.
Currently I am working as Senior Software Engineer on Mail Dealer project. My daily work includes:
. Carry out assigned daily development tasks (based on the deadlines to prioritize the task list).
. Propose work implementation plans to superiors.
. Guide and support other members.
. Proactively contact the Japanese side to accurately and fully understand the functional requirements.
In my current position, I also clearly understand my responsibilities:
. Complete individual work well.
. Help and pass on working enthusiasm to other team members (quality is the most important).
. Report and propose solutions to superiors to successfully complete the overall work of the Team.
—– In Mail Dealer team, can you share more about the division of roles between the Japanese and Vietnamese development departments?
Mail Dealer is Rakus’s first product, launched in April 2001 with a history of more than 20 years of development. The number of Japanese Software Engineers directly participating in discussions with Rakus Vietnam is 15 people.
Mail Dealer development team at Rakus Vietnam is 10 people. Currently, the Development phase is being carried out by both the Japanese side and Rakus Vietnam side. In addition to the requirement definition phase being implemented by the Japanese side, all remaining phases of Rakus Vietnam have been undertaken such as:
- Investigate the scope of work,
- Outline design and Detail design,
- Code implementation and review,
- Implement testing process: Whitebox test, Blackbox test, Acceptance test, Monkey test, Vex test, Automation test, …
—– Can you describe your current daily work process as a Senior Project Leader?
The main point of my work includes:
Based on requests from the Japanese side, the superior (PM) will assign me to be in charge of developing specific functions.
At the requirements validation and basic design step:
– I proactively respond the requirements and confirm to Japan side to understand clearly them.
– Divide workload and estimate time to complete tasks.
– Report to superiors on time estimates to adjust schedules accordingly.
– Conduct Outline design (depending on the function, Detail design may be required)
At the development step:
– After the design is approved by the Japan side, depending on the difficulty level, I will divide appropriate tasks among members, supporting you in developing. For tasks with high difficulty, I will be directly in charge.
– Code review.
– Report to superiors for confirmation and transfer to QA team for quality assurance.
At the quality assurance step, I am often involved in providing VEX and E2E solutions for Automation testing.
Every day I also participate in meetings with Japanese members and Bridge Engineers to discuss work and report progress.
—– At the Senior level, please share your actions in the project to support other members.
Currently, I am still in the process of being challenged and trained to become a Project Leader in the future, so I am directly managing 1 member, and depending on the function, I will guide about 3 other colleagues.
Regarding actions related to improvement activities:
. When I realize the work has problems, I support refactoring immediately.
. Every week I participate in the team’s Kaizen meeting, actively discussing and proposing improvement plans with my superiors.
—– Can you share more about your team’s working spirit?
We communicate with each other very comfortably:
. In each task, I will Q&A with other members, with my superiors and the Japanese side as soon as I need support.
. Every day we will have a short meeting < 15 minutes to report work and exchange ideas.
. Every month there will be a 1on1 opportunity with a superior.
In general, because working on a large project, teamwork is extremely necessary. This is not a difficult skill. In my opinion, it is simply “Share your knowledge with colleagues, and vice versa, you will also receive support from the other side”. And from there, the whole team will develop together.
Sometimes, there are situations when we have different opinions and point of views, but it all comes from the spirit of learning and wanting the best for the project. We understand that we need to learn from each other to develop together.
—– In your current job, what makes you feel especially valuable?
Mail Dealer has always been a product with strong growth, with more than 80,000 business customers using the service in Japan, followed by millions of end users.
. It is a high quality product with improved daily functions.
. This is a product that is periodically upgraded by version.
By bringing benefits to customers and profits to the company, I can also motivate myself in product development work.
—– So please share more specifically about the next steps in the future that you are aiming for.
Team Mail Dealer’s goal is to grow stronger in the future, being able to handle all requests assigned by the Japanese side. To do this, we need to improve from the smallest and weakest points, gradually improving our capacity to increase trust from Rakus Japan.
Personally, I set a short-term goal of becoming a Project Leader, who can transmit enthusiastic working spirit to my members and colleagues. Currently, I am being challenged with more difficult and broader tasks according to the Project Leader training plan, and receive a lot of support from the company and my superiors.
—– Do you have any special things to share about the company culture?
I always want to be challenged to work in a Japanese company, which is famous around the world for always prioritizing quality first. Rakus Vietnam is such an environment.
I was also surprised with many of the company’s special policies such as:
– Encourage employees to increase connection with each other through Teambuilding activities, Picnics, etc. Every month, a budget will be allocated for this purpose.
– Every 6 months, the company will conduct the Performance Review (MBO) with a standardized, fair process, clear criteria and goals. At Rakus, promotion opportunities are always open.
– In addition to annual leave and New Year holidays according to regulations, Rakus Vietnam also has 7 additional special days off:
. Holidays on April 30, May 1 + 3 special days off – only available at Rakus Vietnam.
. New Year + 4 special days off – only available at Rakus Vietnam.
In addition, in work communication, the Communicator team and Vietnamese Bridge SE (members of Rakus Japan) will always be there to support, so we are working without any worries about the language barrier.
—– How do you spend your time outside of work?
Currently I am working at the Company Branch located in District 3 and I can choose the appropriate working hours for myself (each member’s working hours are registered and maintained quarterly). Because projects rarely have Over Time, outside of work, I can spend a lot of time taking care of my small family and my son.
—– Thank you very much for your sharing.