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    "result": {"data":{"contentfulComposePage":{"title":"Employee Q&A: Ben Liu - Co-op Student Turned Senior Software Developer","seo":{"title":null,"description":"Ben transitioned into a Senior Software Developer two years after joining Mappedin as a co-op student. In this Q&A, we delve into his journey and the aspects of the job that he finds most rewarding."},"content":{"author":"Lucy Bragg","publishDate":"Feb 25, 2022","updatedAt":"Feb 25, 2022","content":{"raw":"{\"nodeType\":\"document\",\"data\":{},\"content\":[{\"nodeType\":\"paragraph\",\"content\":[{\"nodeType\":\"text\",\"value\":\"In only two years, Ben Liu transitioned from a co-op student to a Senior Software Developer at Mappedin. Astonishingly, he now manages his own co-op student. We delve into his journey and his reasons for why a Software Developer should start structuring their career at Mappedin. \",\"marks\":[],\"data\":{}}],\"data\":{}},{\"nodeType\":\"paragraph\",\"content\":[{\"nodeType\":\"text\",\"value\":\"Ben, thanks for chatting with me. To begin, can you tell us about your current role at Mappedin?\",\"marks\":[{\"type\":\"bold\"}],\"data\":{}}],\"data\":{}},{\"nodeType\":\"paragraph\",\"content\":[{\"nodeType\":\"text\",\"value\":\"I’m currently a Senior Software Developer on the Product and Platform team, specifically team Ship It, which is primarily responsible for our pre-built front end applications: Mappedin Web and the Mappedin directory experience. I’m responsible for maintaining those two applications, along with a host of other smaller applications, and I’m the technical owner of the Mappedin Web V2 experience. \",\"marks\":[],\"data\":{}}],\"data\":{}},{\"nodeType\":\"paragraph\",\"content\":[{\"nodeType\":\"text\",\"value\":\"You’ve had an impressive journey at Mappedin over the last two years! You started as a co-op student, transitioned into a part-time employee, and now manage your own co-op student. How has this experience been for you?\",\"marks\":[{\"type\":\"bold\"}],\"data\":{}}],\"data\":{}},{\"nodeType\":\"paragraph\",\"content\":[{\"nodeType\":\"text\",\"value\":\"It's been pretty crazy; I definitely didn't think that I would progress so fast. I was quite lucky in terms of timing because when I first \",\"marks\":[],\"data\":{}},{\"nodeType\":\"hyperlink\",\"content\":[{\"nodeType\":\"text\",\"value\":\"joined Mappedin as a co-op student\",\"marks\":[],\"data\":{}}],\"data\":{\"uri\":\"https://www.mappedin.com/blog/company/culture/employee-q-and-a-ben-liu\"}},{\"nodeType\":\"text\",\"value\":\", I got to jump right in and work on a huge feature upgrade to one of our primary pre-built products. We were working on our next generation directory upgrade, and there was a significant chunk of improvement work, so I learned a lot about how it works.\",\"marks\":[],\"data\":{}}],\"data\":{}},{\"nodeType\":\"paragraph\",\"content\":[{\"nodeType\":\"text\",\"value\":\"After my 8-month co-op, I started working at Mappedin part-time, and we decided to work on the Web V2 experience. I got the opportunity to work with Anzor, the Principal Software Developer, on building the foundations of this entirely new upgraded version of the web experience. He’s an incredibly smart guy, and while he moved on to bigger projects, I remained and continued to work on Web V2 and directories.\",\"marks\":[],\"data\":{}}],\"data\":{}},{\"nodeType\":\"paragraph\",\"content\":[{\"nodeType\":\"text\",\"value\":\"I was lucky enough to gain a lot of knowledge on the directories, and after Anzor moved to other projects, I was left as the most knowledgeable person on the web experience; which is crazy given the circumstances. Getting all of that experience was really helpful in enabling me to adopt more responsibilities and take on more projects. \",\"marks\":[],\"data\":{}}],\"data\":{}},{\"nodeType\":\"paragraph\",\"content\":[{\"nodeType\":\"text\",\"value\":\"Do you think there are opportunities for career growth and development for developers at Mappedin?\",\"marks\":[{\"type\":\"bold\"}],\"data\":{}}],\"data\":{}},{\"nodeType\":\"paragraph\",\"content\":[{\"nodeType\":\"text\",\"value\":\"Yes absolutely. Personally, that’s probably the biggest benefit for me working at a smaller company like Mappedin - the accelerated rate of growth. The company is always growing, we’re always recruiting new people, and we’re always looking to promote existing employees into higher positions. \",\"marks\":[],\"data\":{}}],\"data\":{}},{\"nodeType\":\"paragraph\",\"content\":[{\"nodeType\":\"text\",\"value\":\"Currently, I’m hoping to step into more managerial positions. Normally someone in my position with my level of experience would not be afforded that sort of opportunity, but here at Mappedin, I have been given the opportunity to work towards those goals so early on in my career which I think is pretty lucky. It’s not something that I would expect to get anywhere else. \",\"marks\":[],\"data\":{}}],\"data\":{}},{\"nodeType\":\"paragraph\",\"content\":[{\"nodeType\":\"text\",\"value\":\"How would you describe Mappedin’s culture and team environment?\",\"marks\":[{\"type\":\"bold\"}],\"data\":{}}],\"data\":{}},{\"nodeType\":\"paragraph\",\"content\":[{\"nodeType\":\"text\",\"value\":\"Very fun and friendly. I’ve done co-ops in a few bigger companies and there’s a lot of bureaucracy and administration that you have to go through to get anything done, but it’s not like that at Mappedin. If there’s something I want to work on, or if there’s an idea that I have, I can easily reach out to Ed Wei, the CTO; or Hongwei, the CEO, which isn’t something that you would normally get at a larger company. \",\"marks\":[],\"data\":{}}],\"data\":{}},{\"nodeType\":\"paragraph\",\"content\":[{\"nodeType\":\"text\",\"value\":\"What are some things that the Product and Platform team is working on right now?\",\"marks\":[{\"type\":\"bold\"}],\"data\":{}}],\"data\":{}},{\"nodeType\":\"paragraph\",\"content\":[{\"nodeType\":\"text\",\"value\":\"Right now, we’re prioritizing enhancements to the Web V2 experience. Roughly a year or so ago, we launched the second version of our mapping web experience, which is a complete overhaul of the original experience. It’s built from the ground up using TypeScript, and uses much more updated technologies and practices. \",\"marks\":[],\"data\":{}}],\"data\":{}},{\"nodeType\":\"paragraph\",\"content\":[{\"nodeType\":\"text\",\"value\":\"Over the past several months, we’ve been continuing to work on maintaining that application while adding new features. Currently, we’re adding a feature that will allow users to save an arbitrary location when they’re in a building or mall; for instance, you can save your spot in the parking lot and navigate back to it later. \",\"marks\":[],\"data\":{}}],\"data\":{}},{\"nodeType\":\"paragraph\",\"content\":[{\"nodeType\":\"text\",\"value\":\"What aspects of your job do you find the most rewarding?\",\"marks\":[{\"type\":\"bold\"}],\"data\":{}}],\"data\":{}},{\"nodeType\":\"paragraph\",\"content\":[{\"nodeType\":\"text\",\"value\":\"Predominantly, the most rewarding aspect has been the agency and ownership that I’ve been given over our products. And most recently, it would be the increase in management responsibilities that I’ve been given. \",\"marks\":[],\"data\":{}}],\"data\":{}},{\"nodeType\":\"paragraph\",\"content\":[{\"nodeType\":\"text\",\"value\":\"I feel like the work that I put in is actually meaningful because my superiors and those managing me take an interest in the things that I do. If I excel, I’m rewarded, and if I’m veering off of the right path, then I’m given feedback right away to correct it. \",\"marks\":[],\"data\":{}}],\"data\":{}},{\"nodeType\":\"paragraph\",\"content\":[{\"nodeType\":\"text\",\"value\":\"Is there one thing you like most about working at Mappedin?\",\"marks\":[{\"type\":\"bold\"}],\"data\":{}}],\"data\":{}},{\"nodeType\":\"paragraph\",\"content\":[{\"nodeType\":\"text\",\"value\":\"When people ask me why I like working here, one of the things that I tend to say is the opportunity for growth; it’s easy to progress in your career at Mappedin. Don’t get me wrong, the people are also great. I love the people I work with and enjoy the team activities every week, but the opportunity for growth has been invaluable to my career.\",\"marks\":[],\"data\":{}}],\"data\":{}},{\"nodeType\":\"paragraph\",\"content\":[{\"nodeType\":\"text\",\"value\":\"Being able to get to this point relatively early in my career is amazing. Even if I didn’t work with great people and have a great environment, which I do, I would still stay at Mappedin because I don’t think I could have gotten these opportunities anywhere else. \",\"marks\":[],\"data\":{}}],\"data\":{}},{\"nodeType\":\"paragraph\",\"content\":[{\"nodeType\":\"text\",\"value\":\"We’re hiring for many developer roles currently at Mappedin. Why should a developer come to Mappedin right now?\",\"marks\":[{\"type\":\"bold\"}],\"data\":{}}],\"data\":{}},{\"nodeType\":\"paragraph\",\"content\":[{\"nodeType\":\"text\",\"value\":\"We’re hiring two Team Leads, a Front End Developer, a Full Stack Developer, and a Developer Evangelist (\",\"marks\":[],\"data\":{}},{\"nodeType\":\"hyperlink\",\"content\":[{\"nodeType\":\"text\",\"value\":\"see our open roles here\",\"marks\":[],\"data\":{}}],\"data\":{\"uri\":\"https://www.mappedin.com/careers/\"}},{\"nodeType\":\"text\",\"value\":\"). I think developers should come to Mappedin for a lot of reasons. The company is growing quite rapidly, so if you’re looking to work at a fast-growing company with a lot of opportunities for growth and promotion, or to get experience with different technologies, then this is an excellent place to work. \",\"marks\":[],\"data\":{}}],\"data\":{}},{\"nodeType\":\"paragraph\",\"content\":[{\"nodeType\":\"text\",\"value\":\"Even if you’re not looking to go into management or something like that, Mappedin is a place where developers can grow very quickly and learn a lot of new skills. If you get hired as a Front End Developer, but after a while you decide that you want some experience in back end or something else, then people will make that happen. As long as we have the resources, we’ll try our best to facilitate those opportunities, because that same person might grow into an excellent Back End Developer, and we don’t want to get in the way of that. We want developers to explore their utmost potential. \",\"marks\":[],\"data\":{}}],\"data\":{}},{\"nodeType\":\"paragraph\",\"content\":[{\"nodeType\":\"text\",\"value\":\"Do you have any advice for a developer who wants to apply here?\",\"marks\":[{\"type\":\"bold\"}],\"data\":{}}],\"data\":{}},{\"nodeType\":\"paragraph\",\"content\":[{\"nodeType\":\"text\",\"value\":\"My only advice is to apply! We have a lot of products that are very visible on the web and out in the wild, so if you visit any number of places that have our products (for instance the Toronto Eaton Centre or Conestoga Mall in Waterloo) or if you visit any of our customers’ websites, you can see exactly what it is that we do. If that looks interesting to you, I personally think it’s pretty interesting, then just apply! You’ll get to meet me or some of the other people on the development team and it’ll be a great time working together.\",\"marks\":[],\"data\":{}}],\"data\":{}},{\"nodeType\":\"paragraph\",\"content\":[{\"nodeType\":\"text\",\"value\":\"Interested in working with Ben? Check out our \",\"marks\":[{\"type\":\"italic\"}],\"data\":{}},{\"nodeType\":\"hyperlink\",\"content\":[{\"nodeType\":\"text\",\"value\":\"Careers Page\",\"marks\":[{\"type\":\"italic\"}],\"data\":{}}],\"data\":{\"uri\":\"https://mappedin.com/careers\"}},{\"nodeType\":\"text\",\"value\":\" for all open roles, or send an email to our recruitment team at careers@mappedin.ca.\",\"marks\":[{\"type\":\"italic\"}],\"data\":{}}],\"data\":{}}]}","references":[]},"image":{"file":{"url":"//images.ctfassets.net/wdjnw2prxlw8/1QKVMhAGd4vR05fRTduIej/675532841de194ac5e3d1abf1b27e3cb/Blog_Employee_QA_Ben.png"}},"pdf":null,"relatedPosts":[{"title":"Employee Co-op Q&A: Ben Liu","slug":"employee-q-and-a-ben-liu","content":{"__typename":"ContentfulBlogPost","author":"Avanti Krishnan","publishDate":"Sep 10, 2020","updatedAt":"Mar 10, 2022","tags":{"category":{"name":"Company","slug":"company"},"topic":{"name":"Culture","slug":"culture"}},"content":{"raw":"{\"data\":{},\"content\":[{\"data\":{},\"content\":[{\"data\":{},\"marks\":[{\"type\":\"bold\"}],\"value\":\"Ben, thank you so much for doing this. I'd like to ask you about your co-op experience with Mappedin. To start off, can you tell me a bit about your role? \",\"nodeType\":\"text\"}],\"nodeType\":\"paragraph\"},{\"data\":{},\"content\":[{\"data\":{},\"marks\":[],\"value\":\"I am a Software Developer Co-op on the Product team. I work on the front-facing applications, like Mappedin’s Digital Directory and Web products. I create the components and display for our front-end applications based on the designs we get from our designers. I have also worked on bugs and maintenance of these front-end products. \",\"nodeType\":\"text\"}],\"nodeType\":\"paragraph\"},{\"data\":{},\"content\":[{\"data\":{},\"marks\":[{\"type\":\"bold\"}],\"value\":\"Did you have any projects that were specifically yours to build? \",\"nodeType\":\"text\"}],\"nodeType\":\"paragraph\"},{\"data\":{},\"content\":[{\"data\":{},\"marks\":[],\"value\":\"I have been pretty lucky that way. Both of my managers reiterated that in my 8-month position, the first four months would be spent working on the Directory kiosk redesign and the next four would be focused on Web redesign. I was lucky that I was able to work heavily on both major product reworks.\",\"nodeType\":\"text\"}],\"nodeType\":\"paragraph\"},{\"data\":{},\"content\":[{\"data\":{},\"marks\":[],\"value\":\"Specifically with the kiosk, I worked a lot with the store profile card state. That’s when you’re using a kiosk and you search for a location, it displays a card that shows all of the associated information and deals (e.g. hours, contact information). That state is one of the two more complicated states or screens in the kiosk and that was one of the things that I focused on. For a few weeks, I was just trying to wrap my head around all the different design tweaks that had to be implemented on that screen which were very unique. \",\"nodeType\":\"text\"}],\"nodeType\":\"paragraph\"},{\"data\":{},\"content\":[{\"data\":{},\"marks\":[{\"type\":\"bold\"}],\"value\":\"For other co-op students wondering, can you speak to your experience at Mappedin and why you applied to a position with us? \",\"nodeType\":\"text\"}],\"nodeType\":\"paragraph\"},{\"data\":{},\"content\":[{\"data\":{},\"marks\":[],\"value\":\"A couple of reasons; I thoroughly enjoy work especially because all the people that I work with, we have a lot of fun! We have game sessions and play a bunch of different games like League of Legends, skribbl.io, and Pictionary. Talking with the people on the team is really fun as well.\",\"nodeType\":\"text\"}],\"nodeType\":\"paragraph\"},{\"data\":{},\"content\":[{\"data\":{},\"marks\":[],\"value\":\"But even before I joined and before I knew the people, I still wanted to come to Mappedin. One of the primary reasons was because I was really interested in the position, especially because I enjoy the visual aspects of programming. I enjoy seeing the things that I make visually, being able to appreciate the aesthetics, and having other people appreciate the aesthetics as well. The fact that Mappedin's products are visible to such a large portion of the public was interesting and enticing.\",\"nodeType\":\"text\"}],\"nodeType\":\"paragraph\"},{\"data\":{},\"content\":[{\"data\":{},\"marks\":[{\"type\":\"bold\"}],\"value\":\"If someone were joining the team at Mappedin, what would you advise them on their first day about working here?\",\"nodeType\":\"text\"}],\"nodeType\":\"paragraph\"},{\"data\":{},\"content\":[{\"data\":{},\"marks\":[],\"value\":\"One thing I would say is don’t be afraid to reach out to people. I found that everyone I talked to was super friendly and outgoing! If I need something or any help, I can always reach out to somebody and they'll try their best to help me. Even if they can’t, they will direct me to somebody who can. It has been really pleasant interacting with everybody and it has made my work a lot smoother.\",\"nodeType\":\"text\"}],\"nodeType\":\"paragraph\"},{\"data\":{},\"content\":[{\"data\":{},\"marks\":[{\"type\":\"bold\"}],\"value\":\"Since it is sadly the end of your work term, what is one thing that you will miss about working at Mappedin?\",\"nodeType\":\"text\"}],\"nodeType\":\"paragraph\"},{\"data\":{},\"content\":[{\"data\":{},\"marks\":[],\"value\":\"It would definitely be the people. By a good margin, it is honestly the best team environment that I have worked in out of all of my co-ops. In my previous co-ops, I have been in situations where I have just been relegated to the corner and do simple co-op work and didn’t end up learning much. But at Mappedin, I feel like I am completely treated like another member of the team and I am given the same tasks as everybody else along with having the same expectations, which is really useful for me personally.\",\"nodeType\":\"text\"}],\"nodeType\":\"paragraph\"},{\"data\":{},\"content\":[{\"data\":{},\"marks\":[{\"type\":\"bold\"}],\"value\":\"Shortly after you joined, we moved to a remote working environment because of COVID-19. How has that been for you?\",\"nodeType\":\"text\"}],\"nodeType\":\"paragraph\"},{\"data\":{},\"content\":[{\"data\":{},\"marks\":[],\"value\":\"Working from home has been different but it’s been nice to wake up and be in work mode immediately. I can take a couple of minutes to get myself in the mindset as I have a lot more time in the morning not having to go through a big morning routine or commute to work. \",\"nodeType\":\"text\"}],\"nodeType\":\"paragraph\"},{\"data\":{},\"content\":[{\"data\":{},\"marks\":[{\"type\":\"bold\"}],\"value\":\"What is the best WFH tip or advice that you can give?\",\"nodeType\":\"text\"}],\"nodeType\":\"paragraph\"},{\"data\":{},\"content\":[{\"data\":{},\"marks\":[],\"value\":\"My best WFH tip or advice would probably be to have a good segregation of work and personal spaces. I have a basement room downstairs, where I do most meetings. But I also have a room upstairs with a big window and turn it into like a big office where I do programming. Just walking upstairs, I’m getting ready to be in the work mentality, and when I am finished for the day, I turn everything off and go all the way downstairs and it brings my energy levels down and I am ready to relax.\",\"nodeType\":\"text\"}],\"nodeType\":\"paragraph\"},{\"data\":{},\"content\":[{\"data\":{},\"marks\":[{\"type\":\"bold\"}],\"value\":\"Since working remotely and having more time on your hands, have you started any new hobbies or projects?\",\"nodeType\":\"text\"}],\"nodeType\":\"paragraph\"},{\"data\":{},\"content\":[{\"data\":{},\"marks\":[],\"value\":\"There's been a couple of things. There was a while where I tried to learn 3D modelling and I was learning render by myself. It was very hard, a lot harder than I expected. I did one little project by myself, and I've kind of been jumping from thing to thing, trying to fill the time. There was a time when I really got back into drawing. When I was little, I used to do a lot of art and used to go to art classes and got into digital drawing too. I have a tablet and would draw in photoshop little sketches and stuff. At the moment, I am working on a web application for me and my friends to use while we play board games over video chat. It’s like a little application that we can use to count points or scores and coordinate things and synchronize across different browsers. \",\"nodeType\":\"text\"}],\"nodeType\":\"paragraph\"},{\"data\":{},\"content\":[{\"data\":{},\"marks\":[{\"type\":\"bold\"}],\"value\":\"Is there anything else that you would like to share about your time at Mappedin?\",\"nodeType\":\"text\"}],\"nodeType\":\"paragraph\"},{\"data\":{},\"content\":[{\"data\":{},\"marks\":[],\"value\":\"I feel really lucky to come at the time that I did, partially for the reasons that I said earlier where I worked on both of the huge front-end projects, especially for Mappedin Web V2. I got to work on the foundations of it with our Software Architect in what was an incredibly productive learning experience from me. I was able to get my hands dirty with setting up the entire project from scratch alongside him and learning a lot from him. I came at a really opportunistic time and a lot of really interesting and really fun stuff started a little bit after I showed up.\",\"nodeType\":\"text\"}],\"nodeType\":\"paragraph\"},{\"data\":{},\"content\":[{\"data\":{},\"content\":[{\"data\":{},\"marks\":[],\"value\":\"I can sincerely say it has been my most enjoyable work experience, my favourite co-op experience that I have done, and is a really good way to end my series of co-ops and on a really high note!\",\"nodeType\":\"text\"}],\"nodeType\":\"paragraph\"}],\"nodeType\":\"blockquote\"},{\"data\":{},\"content\":[{\"data\":{},\"marks\":[],\"value\":\"I'm confident that in the future that I will look back at this time specifically, where I learned a lot and also not feeling like I was forced to play catch up all the time. I was able to pick up a lot of skills while working on tickets that I would get assigned and being able to communicate with different people on the team and just talking to whoever I need to learn whatever set of tools that I need to solve the problem.\",\"nodeType\":\"text\"}],\"nodeType\":\"paragraph\"},{\"data\":{},\"content\":[{\"data\":{},\"marks\":[],\"value\":\"This is the most beneficial foundation experience that I have received for the career path that I want to pursue. I feel incredibly lucky to have been a part of everything that has happened the last couple of months.\",\"nodeType\":\"text\"}],\"nodeType\":\"paragraph\"},{\"data\":{},\"content\":[{\"data\":{},\"marks\":[{\"type\":\"italic\"}],\"value\":\"Interested in working with us? Check out our \",\"nodeType\":\"text\"},{\"data\":{\"uri\":\"https://mappedin.com/careers\"},\"content\":[{\"data\":{},\"marks\":[{\"type\":\"italic\"}],\"value\":\"Careers Page\",\"nodeType\":\"text\"}],\"nodeType\":\"hyperlink\"},{\"data\":{},\"marks\":[{\"type\":\"italic\"}],\"value\":\" for all open roles, or send an email to our recruitment team at \",\"nodeType\":\"text\"},{\"data\":{\"uri\":\"mailto:careers@mappedin.ca\"},\"content\":[{\"data\":{},\"marks\":[{\"type\":\"italic\"}],\"value\":\"careers@mappedin.ca\",\"nodeType\":\"text\"}],\"nodeType\":\"hyperlink\"},{\"data\":{},\"marks\":[{\"type\":\"italic\"}],\"value\":\".\",\"nodeType\":\"text\"}],\"nodeType\":\"paragraph\"}],\"nodeType\":\"document\"}"},"articleType":"Article","image":{"fluid":{"base64":"data:image/png;base64,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","aspectRatio":1.7525773195876289,"src":"//images.ctfassets.net/wdjnw2prxlw8/2DVqJW11rdoqbI5hvRJNeV/b6b41110650bb34638d2ee034d8f4442/Blog_Employee_Coop_QA_Ben.png?w=480&q=50","srcSet":"//images.ctfassets.net/wdjnw2prxlw8/2DVqJW11rdoqbI5hvRJNeV/b6b41110650bb34638d2ee034d8f4442/Blog_Employee_Coop_QA_Ben.png?w=120&h=68&q=50 120w,\n//images.ctfassets.net/wdjnw2prxlw8/2DVqJW11rdoqbI5hvRJNeV/b6b41110650bb34638d2ee034d8f4442/Blog_Employee_Coop_QA_Ben.png?w=240&h=137&q=50 240w,\n//images.ctfassets.net/wdjnw2prxlw8/2DVqJW11rdoqbI5hvRJNeV/b6b41110650bb34638d2ee034d8f4442/Blog_Employee_Coop_QA_Ben.png?w=480&h=274&q=50 480w,\n//images.ctfassets.net/wdjnw2prxlw8/2DVqJW11rdoqbI5hvRJNeV/b6b41110650bb34638d2ee034d8f4442/Blog_Employee_Coop_QA_Ben.png?w=720&h=411&q=50 720w,\n//images.ctfassets.net/wdjnw2prxlw8/2DVqJW11rdoqbI5hvRJNeV/b6b41110650bb34638d2ee034d8f4442/Blog_Employee_Coop_QA_Ben.png?w=960&h=548&q=50 960w,\n//images.ctfassets.net/wdjnw2prxlw8/2DVqJW11rdoqbI5hvRJNeV/b6b41110650bb34638d2ee034d8f4442/Blog_Employee_Coop_QA_Ben.png?w=1360&h=776&q=50 1360w","sizes":"(max-width: 480px) 100vw, 480px"}}}},{"title":"Employee Q&A: Noah Bolger","slug":"employee-q-and-a-noah-bolger","content":{"__typename":"ContentfulBlogPost","author":"Lucy Bragg","publishDate":"Feb 23, 2022","updatedAt":"Feb 23, 2022","tags":{"category":{"name":"Company","slug":"company"},"topic":{"name":"Culture","slug":"culture"}},"content":{"raw":"{\"data\":{},\"content\":[{\"data\":{},\"content\":[{\"data\":{},\"marks\":[],\"value\":\"Today we’re chatting with Noah, a Senior Software Developer on the Map Automation team. We discuss his journey at Mappedin, the First Responders project he’s working on for DHS, advantages of Mappedin’s internal hackathon, and advice for a Software Developer applying to Mappedin. \",\"nodeType\":\"text\"}],\"nodeType\":\"paragraph\"},{\"data\":{},\"content\":[{\"data\":{},\"marks\":[{\"type\":\"bold\"}],\"value\":\"Noah, thanks for chatting with me. To begin, can you tell us about your current role at Mappedin?\",\"nodeType\":\"text\"}],\"nodeType\":\"paragraph\"},{\"data\":{},\"content\":[{\"data\":{},\"marks\":[],\"value\":\"I’m a Senior Software Developer on the Map Automation team. My role is collecting data, building machine learning models, looking at research papers, writing APIs, and building applications on top of those models and retraining them to make them smarter. \",\"nodeType\":\"text\"}],\"nodeType\":\"paragraph\"},{\"data\":{\"target\":{\"sys\":{\"id\":\"5rfypsqsmUkxAg5Be0S4j8\",\"type\":\"Link\",\"linkType\":\"Asset\"}}},\"content\":[],\"nodeType\":\"embedded-asset-block\"},{\"data\":{},\"content\":[{\"data\":{},\"marks\":[{\"type\":\"bold\"}],\"value\":\"You started at Mappedin as a co-op student, and later transitioned into a full-time employee. How has your journey been over the years? \",\"nodeType\":\"text\"}],\"nodeType\":\"paragraph\"},{\"data\":{},\"content\":[{\"data\":{},\"marks\":[],\"value\":\"It’s been good! I did my fourth co-op at Mappedin and started as a Software Developer in Test. I was writing tests for our Smart Search model, then my manager and mentor Mary asked if I wanted to try some data science. I said yes and started doing that. Then I came back to Mappedin for my next co-op and started doing machine learning. So I went from Software Developer in Test, to data science, to machine learning. \",\"nodeType\":\"text\"}],\"nodeType\":\"paragraph\"},{\"data\":{},\"content\":[{\"data\":{},\"marks\":[],\"value\":\"After that, I graduated and was going to do my Masters. I was working at Mappedin for about 8 months between the end of my undergrad and the beginning of my Masters when Paul, the Director of Engineering, asked if I wanted to stay at Mappedin. I said yes and have been working here ever since. \\t\",\"nodeType\":\"text\"}],\"nodeType\":\"paragraph\"},{\"data\":{},\"content\":[{\"data\":{},\"marks\":[{\"type\":\"bold\"}],\"value\":\"What are some changes you’ve seen since joining Mappedin?\",\"nodeType\":\"text\"}],\"nodeType\":\"paragraph\"},{\"data\":{},\"content\":[{\"data\":{},\"marks\":[],\"value\":\"I was a co-op at the start of the mapping automation push, and I think the only machine learning product we had at the time was Smart Search. I’ve seen a shift in the focus of dev efforts growing into mapping automation a bit more. Before it was very much like, we’ll see if it works and if it doesn’t, we’ll put you in different roles. But we got stuff working, and it’s been growing.\",\"nodeType\":\"text\"}],\"nodeType\":\"paragraph\"},{\"data\":{},\"content\":[{\"data\":{},\"marks\":[],\"value\":\"Now we’ve shifted our focus to building up these automation products, and we’ve been working on a huge First Responders project for the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS). \",\"nodeType\":\"text\"}],\"nodeType\":\"paragraph\"},{\"data\":{},\"content\":[{\"data\":{},\"marks\":[{\"type\":\"bold\"}],\"value\":\"Can you tell us more about the First Responders project the Map Automation team is working on right now?\",\"nodeType\":\"text\"}],\"nodeType\":\"paragraph\"},{\"data\":{},\"content\":[{\"data\":{},\"marks\":[],\"value\":\"We’re working with firefighters and first responders to digitize maps that may save lives. Mappedin’s proposed solution will automate the conversion of existing scanned floor plans, which every first responder organization or city permit office has, into simplified, standardized maps. We’re also creating a situational awareness dashboard for first responders to tag areas on the map with icons.    \",\"nodeType\":\"text\"}],\"nodeType\":\"paragraph\"},{\"data\":{},\"content\":[{\"data\":{},\"marks\":[],\"value\":\"It’s a very niche problem. Where everyone and their mother is trying to build a self-driving car, we’re detecting fire symbols in floor plans. It’s unique which is challenging because it’s difficult to find people that have done similar work, but also exciting because you could be the first to come up with it. \",\"nodeType\":\"text\"}],\"nodeType\":\"paragraph\"},{\"data\":{},\"content\":[{\"data\":{},\"marks\":[],\"value\":\"There are a couple research groups that have done this type of work, but the difference between academic and real world applications is that the data in this research is very standard and controlled. However, in real life, we’re seeing all sorts of different data, from really nice CAD files that a CAD expert has drawn, to a hand drawn floor plan pulled out of a filing cabinet. \",\"nodeType\":\"text\"}],\"nodeType\":\"paragraph\"},{\"data\":{},\"content\":[{\"data\":{},\"marks\":[],\"value\":\"What’s most interesting is that one of the techniques we’re using is a pretty common machine learning technique, but the other ones are very new and exciting. I think that’s a cool thing that we’re doing; applying new techniques to this really niche problem. And a problem that if we solve, we could be one of the first mapping companies in the industry to achieve genuine map automation, which is really exciting.\",\"nodeType\":\"text\"}],\"nodeType\":\"paragraph\"},{\"data\":{},\"content\":[{\"data\":{},\"marks\":[{\"type\":\"bold\"}],\"value\":\"What do you like most about working at Mappedin?\",\"nodeType\":\"text\"}],\"nodeType\":\"paragraph\"},{\"data\":{},\"content\":[{\"data\":{},\"marks\":[],\"value\":\"What I like most about working at Mappedin is that even though we’re a mid-stage company, you still know pretty much everyone. I’ve had a chance to talk to most people at Mappedin and understand relatively deeply what everyone is doing. \",\"nodeType\":\"text\"}],\"nodeType\":\"paragraph\"},{\"data\":{},\"content\":[{\"data\":{},\"marks\":[],\"value\":\"This also leads into horizontal as well as vertical movement in the company. Mappedin is very good at promoting employees in the company, and horizontally, there’s always the opportunity to work on other projects. For example, if I wanted to learn front-end development after completion of this mapping automation project, I could jump into a couple sprints with a front-end team to try it out. I don’t think you can really do that at some other companies, so it’s one of the main reasons why I like working at Mappedin.\",\"nodeType\":\"text\"}],\"nodeType\":\"paragraph\"},{\"data\":{},\"content\":[{\"data\":{},\"marks\":[{\"type\":\"bold\"}],\"value\":\"Mappedin recently hosted our internal hackathon event, Hackedin. Could you tell us more about that? What are some of the advantages of participating in this event?\",\"nodeType\":\"text\"}],\"nodeType\":\"paragraph\"},{\"data\":{},\"content\":[{\"data\":{},\"marks\":[],\"value\":\"Mappedin hosts hackathon events to provide developers with opportunities to work on projects that are outside the scope of our regular sprint work. The last one was focused on integrations, where we were integrating existing Mappedin tech with something else, and my group did a fire simulator. I think one of the advantages of Hackedin is that it gets you out of your regular project work, which can be a really good thing.\",\"nodeType\":\"text\"}],\"nodeType\":\"paragraph\"},{\"data\":{},\"content\":[{\"data\":{},\"marks\":[],\"value\":\"Hackedins can kick off new projects and ideas that people may not have come up with if they were just doing their regular sprint work. It also gives you the opportunity to make incremental features to Mappedin products or pitch a radically new feature that you can build at Hackedin and beyond that too.\",\"nodeType\":\"text\"}],\"nodeType\":\"paragraph\"},{\"data\":{},\"content\":[{\"data\":{},\"marks\":[],\"value\":\"For my team, we learned a new tool in the programming language that we use (Python) and we found a new potential use case for the type of work that we’re doing. Before, we never really thought about running simulations for fire departments, so Hackedin was a great way to do something really interesting. \",\"nodeType\":\"text\"}],\"nodeType\":\"paragraph\"},{\"data\":{},\"content\":[{\"data\":{},\"marks\":[{\"type\":\"bold\"}],\"value\":\"We’re hiring for many developer roles currently at Mappedin. Why should a developer come to Mappedin right now? \",\"nodeType\":\"text\"}],\"nodeType\":\"paragraph\"},{\"data\":{},\"content\":[{\"data\":{},\"marks\":[],\"value\":\"I think there’s a lot of opportunity for any type of developer. Right now, we’re hiring for two Team Leads, a Full Stack Developer, a Front End Developer, and a Developer Evangelist (\",\"nodeType\":\"text\"},{\"data\":{\"uri\":\"https://www.mappedin.com/careers/\"},\"content\":[{\"data\":{},\"marks\":[],\"value\":\"see our open roles here\",\"nodeType\":\"text\"}],\"nodeType\":\"hyperlink\"},{\"data\":{},\"marks\":[],\"value\":\"). In the dev manager book club, we’re reading a book called \",\"nodeType\":\"text\"},{\"data\":{},\"marks\":[{\"type\":\"italic\"}],\"value\":\"Radical Candor \",\"nodeType\":\"text\"},{\"data\":{},\"marks\":[],\"value\":\"that identifies two types of people: a superstar and a rockstar. A superstar is someone that is always looking for the next role or to grow in their role, while a rockstar is someone who is really happy in their role and the first person you’d go to if you have a question about a specific product they’ve been working on. \",\"nodeType\":\"text\"}],\"nodeType\":\"paragraph\"},{\"data\":{},\"content\":[{\"data\":{},\"marks\":[],\"value\":\"That is like the two types of developers; there’s some that just want to lock themselves in a room and build features all day, and others that want to talk to product managers and designers and focus on all types of things. No matter which type of developer you are, there’s a place for you at Mappedin.\",\"nodeType\":\"text\"}],\"nodeType\":\"paragraph\"},{\"data\":{},\"content\":[{\"data\":{},\"marks\":[],\"value\":\"I’d say that our tech is very modern as well, and the tech I’m working with in the machine learning space is quite new. All of our practices on the dev team are very new as well: test-driven development, TypeScript, and other top of the line practices. Also, Hackedins are a great example of the fun that you can have with your work.\",\"nodeType\":\"text\"}],\"nodeType\":\"paragraph\"},{\"data\":{},\"content\":[{\"data\":{},\"marks\":[{\"type\":\"bold\"}],\"value\":\"Do you have any interview tips for a developer who wants to apply to Mappedin?\",\"nodeType\":\"text\"}],\"nodeType\":\"paragraph\"},{\"data\":{},\"content\":[{\"data\":{},\"marks\":[],\"value\":\"I actually just started shadowing the hiring process and did some co-op hiring. I would say that communication is huge. Whether you’re going through a technical process, or the more behavioural type of questions, you should constantly communicate. If you’re working on a technical question and you’re not speaking your mind, the recruiter won’t know what you’re thinking and won’t know how to help you if you need help. Also, if you struggle a bit with the technical questions, but you’re talking the whole time and collaborating with your interviewer on how to come up with a solution, you’ll do well. \",\"nodeType\":\"text\"}],\"nodeType\":\"paragraph\"},{\"data\":{},\"content\":[{\"data\":{},\"marks\":[],\"value\":\"And don’t sweat it! A lot of people get really nervous in interviews, but we \",\"nodeType\":\"text\"},{\"data\":{},\"marks\":[{\"type\":\"italic\"}],\"value\":\"want\",\"nodeType\":\"text\"},{\"data\":{},\"marks\":[],\"value\":\" you to succeed. The hiring process takes a lot of time and effort, and we don’t want to go through all of that just to trick someone and miss out on a great developer. \",\"nodeType\":\"text\"}],\"nodeType\":\"paragraph\"},{\"data\":{},\"content\":[{\"data\":{},\"marks\":[],\"value\":\"Also practice. I think everyone in software development knows to practice the LeetCode questions. We’re not as heavy on those as other companies, but we do ask those types of questions. \",\"nodeType\":\"text\"}],\"nodeType\":\"paragraph\"},{\"data\":{},\"content\":[{\"data\":{},\"marks\":[],\"value\":\"Overall, my advice is to do a bit of practice, know that we’re not trying to trick you, don’t sweat it, and communicate. \",\"nodeType\":\"text\"}],\"nodeType\":\"paragraph\"},{\"data\":{},\"content\":[{\"data\":{},\"marks\":[{\"type\":\"italic\"}],\"value\":\"Interested in working with Noah? Check out our \",\"nodeType\":\"text\"},{\"data\":{\"uri\":\"https://mappedin.com/careers\"},\"content\":[{\"data\":{},\"marks\":[{\"type\":\"italic\"}],\"value\":\"Careers Page\",\"nodeType\":\"text\"}],\"nodeType\":\"hyperlink\"},{\"data\":{},\"marks\":[{\"type\":\"italic\"}],\"value\":\" for all open roles, or send an email to our recruitment team at careers@mappedin.ca.\",\"nodeType\":\"text\"}],\"nodeType\":\"paragraph\"}],\"nodeType\":\"document\"}"},"articleType":"Article","image":{"fluid":{"base64":"data:image/png;base64,iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAAABQAAAALCAMAAABI111xAAABCFBMVEXQ0ND////+/v7Jxb+RgWl8bFOVhm7Gva/+/v3A0Nt5ho+UhnW4jGuvn5SCcVG6sJ7T09Pa2trW1tbd3d3U1NTe3t7f39/b29vw8PD4+fuIorZ5jZqsm5Cxfme+npF3ZEiGdlfy8O3l5eXn5+fh4eHPz8/V1dXx8fHu8fOhuMeUoqaqqqS3iHCFbmFOOShoUzrb1s3ExMTFxcW2trb09vaptLF9gn+Cc2LHm3yHd25WTERJNSbi3drz8/Pm5ub4+PisrKVqa2NhYFqtoo1ydXZ/g4KLi4v039n03dfx1c3y2dLy2NH89fP29vaIiYVraFpdXlV4eHWQlJPy8/T+/f308/Lc3Nny8vDB+vOkAAAACXBIWXMAABYlAAAWJQFJUiTwAAAAB3RJTUUH5gkdExwkZ74bqQAAAGZJREFUCNdjYMACGBnB5H8UQRYgZmIEgZ8oghyMEEF+Rih4ycgowYgAdwRF3gsx3mJkVIeJPJJnZDwH1c4DE9S+ps0It90eIrbbjfE/yMqtYIt4IYIMu4Bqgrf8hLkzhJFxFQMhAAAmRxEw46bYegAAAABJRU5ErkJggg==","aspectRatio":1.7525773195876289,"src":"//images.ctfassets.net/wdjnw2prxlw8/7mecqBMRctZZOuADKlKBfx/c7bc22affe3355f0a1ea81f96dfa9705/Blog_Employee_QA_Noah.png?w=480&q=50","srcSet":"//images.ctfassets.net/wdjnw2prxlw8/7mecqBMRctZZOuADKlKBfx/c7bc22affe3355f0a1ea81f96dfa9705/Blog_Employee_QA_Noah.png?w=120&h=68&q=50 120w,\n//images.ctfassets.net/wdjnw2prxlw8/7mecqBMRctZZOuADKlKBfx/c7bc22affe3355f0a1ea81f96dfa9705/Blog_Employee_QA_Noah.png?w=240&h=137&q=50 240w,\n//images.ctfassets.net/wdjnw2prxlw8/7mecqBMRctZZOuADKlKBfx/c7bc22affe3355f0a1ea81f96dfa9705/Blog_Employee_QA_Noah.png?w=480&h=274&q=50 480w,\n//images.ctfassets.net/wdjnw2prxlw8/7mecqBMRctZZOuADKlKBfx/c7bc22affe3355f0a1ea81f96dfa9705/Blog_Employee_QA_Noah.png?w=720&h=411&q=50 720w,\n//images.ctfassets.net/wdjnw2prxlw8/7mecqBMRctZZOuADKlKBfx/c7bc22affe3355f0a1ea81f96dfa9705/Blog_Employee_QA_Noah.png?w=960&h=548&q=50 960w,\n//images.ctfassets.net/wdjnw2prxlw8/7mecqBMRctZZOuADKlKBfx/c7bc22affe3355f0a1ea81f96dfa9705/Blog_Employee_QA_Noah.png?w=1360&h=776&q=50 1360w","sizes":"(max-width: 480px) 100vw, 480px"}}}},{"title":"Employee Q&A: Paul Bernhardt","slug":"employee-q-and-a-paul-bernhardt","content":{"__typename":"ContentfulBlogPost","author":"Lucy Bragg","publishDate":"Nov 8, 2021","updatedAt":"Mar 10, 2022","tags":{"category":{"name":"Company","slug":"company"},"topic":{"name":"Culture","slug":"culture"}},"content":{"raw":"{\"data\":{},\"content\":[{\"data\":{},\"content\":[{\"data\":{},\"marks\":[],\"value\":\"Paul is Mappedin’s Director of Engineering. We’re discussing his journey at Mappedin, some cool things the Engineering team is working on, and the hiring process for a software developer.\",\"nodeType\":\"text\"}],\"nodeType\":\"paragraph\"},{\"data\":{},\"content\":[{\"data\":{},\"marks\":[{\"type\":\"bold\"}],\"value\":\"Paul, thank you for chatting with me. To start off, can you tell us about your current role at Mappedin?\",\"nodeType\":\"text\"}],\"nodeType\":\"paragraph\"},{\"data\":{},\"content\":[{\"data\":{},\"marks\":[],\"value\":\"I’m the Director of Engineering at Mappedin. I run the Product and Platform team, which contains a number of different teams that work on things like our pre-built applications, SDKs, DevOps, and Machine Learning. \",\"nodeType\":\"text\"}],\"nodeType\":\"paragraph\"},{\"data\":{\"target\":{\"sys\":{\"id\":\"zyPUXfjv1bLhl3EDgXAJJ\",\"type\":\"Link\",\"linkType\":\"Asset\"}}},\"content\":[],\"nodeType\":\"embedded-asset-block\"},{\"data\":{},\"content\":[{\"data\":{},\"marks\":[],\"value\":\"I spend most of my day doing what I can to make everyone who ultimately reports to me as effective as they can be. That means helping them solve business and technical problems, and ensuring they have what they need to grow, be happy, and successful. This sometimes involves getting my hands dirty to build or fix something that would otherwise fall through the cracks. I also do a lot of hiring, and have a number of security related responsibilities as part of our SOC 2 policy.\",\"nodeType\":\"text\"}],\"nodeType\":\"paragraph\"},{\"data\":{},\"content\":[{\"data\":{},\"marks\":[{\"type\":\"bold\"}],\"value\":\"You’ve been at Mappedin for almost 6 years now, congratulations! How has your journey been and what are some of the different roles that you’ve had along the way?\",\"nodeType\":\"text\"}],\"nodeType\":\"paragraph\"},{\"data\":{},\"content\":[{\"data\":{},\"marks\":[],\"value\":\"Thanks Lucy! When I first joined Mappedin, the Development team was really small, consisting of maybe around 10 people, and I was our first Developer Evangelist. Prior to that, the role was spread out between the rest of the Dev team. As an individual contributor, I was able to jump in and make a big contribution by building our Web SDK; which is now a core part of our product. Mappedin was having a lot of success and started getting a lot bigger, and eventually the Dev team split up into two teams: the Consumer team and the Enterprise team. Mappedin’s CTO, Ed Wei, asked if I wanted to be a Dev Manager and take over the Consumer team, and I said yes. That went really well, and the team continued to grow and separate into several other teams; all of which I had managed at one point or another. Then at the start of the year, I was promoted to the Director of Engineering, which is where I am today. Mappedin gave me a lot of opportunities to grow and try different things, so it’s been an enjoyable journey.\",\"nodeType\":\"text\"}],\"nodeType\":\"paragraph\"},{\"data\":{},\"content\":[{\"data\":{},\"marks\":[{\"type\":\"bold\"}],\"value\":\"That’s great to hear! Is there one thing that you like the most about working at Mappedin or in your role specifically?\",\"nodeType\":\"text\"}],\"nodeType\":\"paragraph\"},{\"data\":{},\"content\":[{\"data\":{},\"marks\":[],\"value\":\"What I enjoy most is that everyone is really fun to work with, there’s always meaningful work to be done, and a variety of challenging tasks to accomplish. I enjoy managing people and teams, helping people solve problems, and ultimately helping people be successful. The company is well connected and something that has always impressed me about Mappedin is our company values. Not because of the values alone, but because of how they came about and how we use them. \",\"nodeType\":\"text\"}],\"nodeType\":\"paragraph\"},{\"data\":{},\"content\":[{\"data\":{},\"marks\":[],\"value\":\"As we were getting bigger, we realized that we have a great company and culture, we’re very successful at what we do, and people like working with us, so why is that? We started to write those things down so that we could continue doing what we were already doing: playing for the team, focusing on customers, being honest & accountable, and learning fast. It’s the kind of attitude where people help each other out, always try to get better, are willing to go the extra mile when needed to get something done, and feel empowered to make things better for their team, company, and our customers. The values that we’ve come to embody and cherish are ones that enable our company to perform well together, and that’s something I really enjoy about Mappedin.\",\"nodeType\":\"text\"}],\"nodeType\":\"paragraph\"},{\"data\":{},\"content\":[{\"data\":{},\"marks\":[{\"type\":\"bold\"}],\"value\":\"What are some of the cool things the Engineering team is working on?\",\"nodeType\":\"text\"}],\"nodeType\":\"paragraph\"},{\"data\":{},\"content\":[{\"data\":{},\"marks\":[],\"value\":\"From my perspective, probably the coolest thing we’re working on right now is the First Responders Project. In every municipality, first responders struggle to maintain pre-incident floor plans for a significant portion of the city, leading to poor situational awareness in emergency response situations. When firefighters get a call, they often don’t know what is going on inside a building, and the floor plans they receive are outdated or in weird formats. Mappedin’s proposed solution will automate the conversion of existing scanned floor plans, which every first responder organization or city permit office has, into simplified, standardized maps. On top of that, we’re creating a situational awareness dashboard for tablets that enables first responders to tag certain areas on the map with icons. This can include the location of the fire, exits and entrances, fire extinguishers, and all other important information. This solution ensures that emergency services always have the most up-to-date information on hand. \",\"nodeType\":\"text\"}],\"nodeType\":\"paragraph\"},{\"data\":{},\"content\":[{\"data\":{},\"marks\":[{\"type\":\"bold\"}],\"value\":\"Mappedin hosts 3-day hackathons once every quarter, could you tell us more about that? What is the goal of Hackedin?\",\"nodeType\":\"text\"}],\"nodeType\":\"paragraph\"},{\"data\":{},\"content\":[{\"data\":{},\"marks\":[],\"value\":\"For as long as I’ve been at Mappedin, we’ve had \",\"nodeType\":\"text\"},{\"data\":{\"uri\":\"https://developer.mappedin.com/blog/2021-04-21-hackathons-at-mappedin/\"},\"content\":[{\"data\":{},\"marks\":[],\"value\":\"Hackedin, which is our internal hackathon event\",\"nodeType\":\"text\"}],\"nodeType\":\"hyperlink\"},{\"data\":{},\"marks\":[],\"value\":\". It used to happen one day every month; however, we decided to change the format to a three-day-long event that occurs every couple of months. The idea has always been to give developers the opportunity to work on something they’re interested in, outside the scope of their regular sprint work. This could be experimenting with new technologies, or features that you think would be awesome if they existed, or trying something you’ve always wanted to do. Afterwards, everyone gets together for a meeting to present what they’ve built, and we often get really cool things out of it. \",\"nodeType\":\"text\"}],\"nodeType\":\"paragraph\"},{\"data\":{},\"content\":[{\"data\":{},\"marks\":[{\"type\":\"bold\"}],\"value\":\"We’re hiring for many engineering roles currently at Mappedin. What are these roles and why should a developer come to Mappedin right now?\",\"nodeType\":\"text\"}],\"nodeType\":\"paragraph\"},{\"data\":{},\"content\":[{\"data\":{},\"marks\":[],\"value\":\"We’re currently hiring for a team lead, a front end developer, and a full stack developer (\",\"nodeType\":\"text\"},{\"data\":{\"uri\":\"https://www.mappedin.com/careers/\"},\"content\":[{\"data\":{},\"marks\":[],\"value\":\"see our open roles here\",\"nodeType\":\"text\"}],\"nodeType\":\"hyperlink\"},{\"data\":{},\"marks\":[],\"value\":\"). I’d say that a developer should come to Mappedin because we’re a really great company to work for. We have a really positive culture, and everyone is friendly and fun to work with. We try really hard to support our developers and give them opportunities for professional growth, in terms of taking on bigger and harder challenges, as well as growing into roles they’re interested in. A question I often ask people that report to me is “what do you want to be able to do in a year that you can’t do now?”. People might say they want to get better at back end development, try some DevOps, or maybe get some leadership experience, and we want to help them reach that goal and be successful. Overall, Mappedin is a great place for developers to learn and grow, and have fun while doing that. \",\"nodeType\":\"text\"}],\"nodeType\":\"paragraph\"},{\"data\":{},\"content\":[{\"data\":{},\"marks\":[{\"type\":\"bold\"}],\"value\":\"What is the hiring process like for a software developer?\",\"nodeType\":\"text\"}],\"nodeType\":\"paragraph\"},{\"data\":{},\"content\":[{\"data\":{},\"marks\":[],\"value\":\"For a software developer, there are a couple of stages and we try to move through these stages very quickly. The first stage is conducted by our People Operations team who reviews your application to see if you’re lined up with what we’re looking for. If you are, you’ll have a simple phone screening which consists of some basic questions to see if you’re aligned with the role and this is something you’re interested in. Then you move onto a short technical phone screen either with me or one of the leads that report to me. This will be a simple technical question we go through with you, it’s not meant to be a trick question or anything, it just goes over some of the things you’d be doing everyday as a developer.\",\"nodeType\":\"text\"}],\"nodeType\":\"paragraph\"},{\"data\":{},\"content\":[{\"data\":{},\"marks\":[],\"value\":\"If you’re successful there, there are two interviews that can happen after that, depending on the role. There’s one where you’ll meet with the hiring manager and myself to go through your previous roles and employment history. Then the other one is a more in-depth technical interview where you’ll meet with two members of the team you’d be working on, and will be asked more role specific questions. If you’re successful with those steps and everything prior, the next step would be to meet with Ed, our CTO, and Hongwei, our CEO. \",\"nodeType\":\"text\"}],\"nodeType\":\"paragraph\"},{\"data\":{},\"content\":[{\"data\":{},\"marks\":[{\"type\":\"bold\"}],\"value\":\"Do you have any interview tips for a developer who wants to apply to Mappedin?\",\"nodeType\":\"text\"}],\"nodeType\":\"paragraph\"},{\"data\":{},\"content\":[{\"data\":{},\"marks\":[],\"value\":\"Yes. I’d say brush up a bit on the technologies we are going to be talking about in the interview. It will depend on the role, but you can absolutely ask, we don’t want to trick you! There may be some React, Javascript, or some back end stuff. Another tip would be to ask questions. The interview isn’t a test where you have to answer the question completely on your own, you can certainly ask questions and clarify. You don’t have to have every function memorized or anything like that, we can tell you. After all, half of being a developer is knowing the right questions to type in Google! Lastly, remember that you’re interviewing us at the same time that we’re interviewing you. It’s important for you to know what you want and make sure that Mappedin is the right fit for you. \",\"nodeType\":\"text\"}],\"nodeType\":\"paragraph\"},{\"data\":{},\"content\":[{\"data\":{},\"marks\":[{\"type\":\"italic\"}],\"value\":\"Interested in working with us? Check out our \",\"nodeType\":\"text\"},{\"data\":{\"uri\":\"https://mappedin.com/careers\"},\"content\":[{\"data\":{},\"marks\":[{\"type\":\"italic\"}],\"value\":\"Careers Page\",\"nodeType\":\"text\"}],\"nodeType\":\"hyperlink\"},{\"data\":{},\"marks\":[{\"type\":\"italic\"}],\"value\":\" for all open roles, or send an email to our recruitment team at \",\"nodeType\":\"text\"},{\"data\":{\"uri\":\"mailto:careers@mappedin.ca\"},\"content\":[{\"data\":{},\"marks\":[{\"type\":\"italic\"}],\"value\":\"careers@mappedin.ca.\",\"nodeType\":\"text\"}],\"nodeType\":\"hyperlink\"},{\"data\":{},\"marks\":[],\"value\":\"\",\"nodeType\":\"text\"}],\"nodeType\":\"paragraph\"}],\"nodeType\":\"document\"}"},"articleType":"Article","image":{"fluid":{"base64":"data:image/png;base64,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","aspectRatio":1.7371134020618557,"src":"//images.ctfassets.net/wdjnw2prxlw8/6278Miyz6sl3hWL0XHueUg/4e4fdde619ba0a7402cbd0966c375adf/Blog_Employee_QA_Paul_1.png?w=480&q=50","srcSet":"//images.ctfassets.net/wdjnw2prxlw8/6278Miyz6sl3hWL0XHueUg/4e4fdde619ba0a7402cbd0966c375adf/Blog_Employee_QA_Paul_1.png?w=120&h=69&q=50 120w,\n//images.ctfassets.net/wdjnw2prxlw8/6278Miyz6sl3hWL0XHueUg/4e4fdde619ba0a7402cbd0966c375adf/Blog_Employee_QA_Paul_1.png?w=240&h=138&q=50 240w,\n//images.ctfassets.net/wdjnw2prxlw8/6278Miyz6sl3hWL0XHueUg/4e4fdde619ba0a7402cbd0966c375adf/Blog_Employee_QA_Paul_1.png?w=480&h=276&q=50 480w,\n//images.ctfassets.net/wdjnw2prxlw8/6278Miyz6sl3hWL0XHueUg/4e4fdde619ba0a7402cbd0966c375adf/Blog_Employee_QA_Paul_1.png?w=720&h=414&q=50 720w,\n//images.ctfassets.net/wdjnw2prxlw8/6278Miyz6sl3hWL0XHueUg/4e4fdde619ba0a7402cbd0966c375adf/Blog_Employee_QA_Paul_1.png?w=960&h=553&q=50 960w,\n//images.ctfassets.net/wdjnw2prxlw8/6278Miyz6sl3hWL0XHueUg/4e4fdde619ba0a7402cbd0966c375adf/Blog_Employee_QA_Paul_1.png?w=1348&h=776&q=50 1348w","sizes":"(max-width: 480px) 100vw, 480px"}}}}],"tags":{"category":{"slug":"company","name":"Company"},"topic":{"slug":"culture","name":"Culture"}}}}},"pageContext":{"slug":"employee-q-and-a-ben-liu-coop-student-turned-senior-software-developer"}},
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