Idil Jeilani — How I Pursued Software Engineering as a Career.

Published in

lifeatbench

4 min readAug 9, 2021

The Employee Spotlight series aims to highlight some of the amazing people who work here and get an insight into their experience at Bench.

In our latest spotlight, we sit down with Idil Jeilani, Junior Software Engineer at Bench.

What is your role at Bench currently?

I’m currently a Junior Software Engineer Intern on the Support Engineering team. Aside from being a sponge and learning on a daily basis, I work with an amazing group of engineers who maintain and improve our Bookkeeping and Banking App among other important tasks.

This might sound odd, but my favourite part of the job is breaking things in the app and website. The blameless culture encouraged by Bench allows me to be fearless and try new things. This has only helped accelerate my growth by learning to fix and improve the things I break.

Why work in technology?

A few years ago I took a free Intro to Coding class and really enjoyed it. At the time I didn’t see myself represented in the tech space, and I didn’t even know there were opportunities for me to join the field.

The pandemic, in combination with my desire to change careers, led me to revisit my love for coding. This fuelled my drive to research ways to break into the industry. I was thrilled to see an increased representation of diverse online creators sharing their experiences in the tech space.

I took a leap of faith and joined a 12-week Intensive Web Development Bootcamp to accelerate my transition into web development.

Why did you decide on Bench?

I first heard about Bench through one of my mentors in my Bootcamp when she shared that her company was hiring for a Junior Software Engineer. I resonated with the mission of the company. I love to support small businesses and I wanted to be a part of making a difference.

Bench’s commitment to Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) was a major factor in my decision to join. I spent years hesitant to join Tech because I didn’t see myself in the space, and I wanted to make sure I joined a company that not only celebrated diversity but actively works against systems of racism and discrimination.

Most importantly, I had the support of two amazing engineers who are also women, who mentored me before my interview and have continued to provide support.

How is every day different on the Bench Engineering team for you?

No day is the same for me, which is really exciting. I get the opportunity to work on modern tech stacks and work across platforms and services. I have the support of my team to try new things and to challenge myself. Everything has been fast-paced which has only sped up my growth and increased my opportunity to learn.

What was the first lesson you learned being on the Engineering team, and how has that shaped you and your work since?

Don’t be afraid to ask why!

As someone new to the team, I am encouraged to ask a lot of questions, but specifically ask why and push back if it doesn’t make sense. This method has helped me communicate better and allows me to understand without making assumptions.

What are you most excited about when it comes to future projects at Bench?

I’m looking forward to my career progression with Bench. There is a great range of engineers from junior, intermediate to senior roles. When I was joining the company I took a look at the competency matrix for Engineers 1–5, I realized that the potential for growth was amazing. My goal is to grow within these roles and to increase my knowledge in the people, process and tech assessments, so I can make an impact on these exciting projects.

During your time at Bench, what has resonated with you the most?

From the moment I joined Bench, I resonated with how transparent and consistent DEI has been within the fabric of the company.

For me, It’s important that I’m able to show up to work unapologetically as a Black Muslim woman. DEI at Bench has so far proven they want to see people show up as their authentic selves. I’m currently a part of two DEI affinity groups at Bench that represent parts of my identity, and that is really important for my sense of belonging. I’m also very happy to see DEI involved in executing the commitments to dismantle racism and discrimination in the workplace.

What’s one fun fact about yourself that nobody on your team currently knows about?

I love travelling! Unfortunately, the pandemic has put a pause on that but I hope to get back into it. My favourite country I’ve been to so far is Italy, so much so that I went 3 summers in a row. Truthfully I went back for the pizza!

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Learn more about Technology at Bench:

If you are interested in learning more about Bench Accounting or a career with our Engineering team, apply here: https://bench.co/careers/

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Want to know more about Bench? Check us out in Daily Hive, Georgia Straight, Inc.com, the blog of Perkins + Will and our Instagram.

Idil Jeilani — How I Pursued Software Engineering as a Career.

Written by bench accounting