Property Finder Tech Profiles: Giri Patil, VP Engineering

Property Finder is an incredibly successful property portal, rapidly becoming a beacon for technology and data applications in the Middle East. We achieve success through our talented and diverse teams, one of whom is interviewed in this article. In this inaugural edition of ‘Property Finder Tech Profiles’ we introduce you to Giri Patil, our VP of Engineering.

Hi Giri! Thanks for kicking off this new initiative. Let’s start with you telling us a bit about yourself…

Hi! I’m honoured to be the first victim/interviewee! I’m originally from India, from a town called Belgaum which is in the southern Indian state of Karnataka. I lived there for my formative years, staying there for the majority of my education. I was fascinated about Technology in general and went to university to study engineering and I’m so glad that I went down that path!

I’ve always loved software — the fact you can do so much by just writing a little code. It’s amazing to me. My first love was actually microprocessors, and my first ever job was working with microprocessors for GPS. It was so exciting, getting to solve hardcore tech problems in an environment where you get to work on both software and hardware. I’d work on things like simulating GPS routes, which I knew would have a real world impact. I’m really showing my age by saying GPS was cutting edge technology at this time!

What was your journey to become VP Engineering at Property Finder?

At the core I have always been a hardcore engineer. I’ve contributed to many different companies, in a number of industries. I won’t read out my CV but I’ve seen a lot of variety! I moved into engineering management role some years back and have worked across the globe; in India, the US and now Dubai. I’ve also worked across a range of cultures and tech stacks. Eventually I became Director of Engineering, and now here I am today!

Working with different cultures is an element that I feel has been really valuable for me. For example in India there’s a focus on working really really hard. Execution is the key work ethos. In comparison, I found that the US is much more about innovation, and the attitude is more ‘how can we build for the long term?’. That attitude actually motivated me to formally learn more and so I studied MSc Software Engineering whilst working in the states. Now I’m in Dubai I feel the culture is somewhere in the middle; a little hard work because there’s so much to be done, but also a lot of innovation required because many challenges haven’t been solved and the region needs to catch up in certain areas. There are not many tech companies here in comparison to India and the USA, so expectations of those that do exist are very high. You have to do both the intense hard work and innovative thinking.

So… what exactly does a VP of Engineering do?

In a nutshell, I am responsible for ensuring we are building the product with the right tech stack, build strong Engineering teams, groom strong talent and building a culture which is productive, and gives a sense of satisfaction solving challenging problems. I also have to ask the big scary questions like:

‘will it scale?’

‘is it safe?’

‘will it last?’

In this type of business its a particularly fun challenge as we have to rapidly scale users and architecture too so considering how we build the infrastructure for that is a large part of my role. Finally internal tools and affairs like DevOps is where I spend a lot of my time — optimising internal processes, and finding tools to help us be more productive.

That sounds interesting — and varied! Talking of tools… what are your favourites?

When it comes to productivity tool, choosing a favourite is easy — slack! The biggest issue in productivity is communication and I feel that slack provides solutions to so many communication-based issues. On top of that it saves time by reducing the number of meetings that people have. Instead of gathering people in a room and wasting time you can just create a group and ‘slack it through!’.

With tech tools, my favourite is visual studio code; you can write so many things in the same place and environment. Such a neat piece of software and ideal for me as I like to be hands on — using APIs, checking the data and so on. I don’t write production code but I like to keep my hands dirty as much as possible. Actually, I recently wrote an internal tool for automation of JIRA reports which gives me an insight on what all the team is focussing on — time on various projects. I made this using python, flask, Docker and JIRA APIs. In general and in my spare time I love to write tools to give more insights into how the business is operating.

What excites you the most about global tech trends?

Definitely ML/AI — these are the key things which are driving businesses at a rapid rate. I try to keep hands on with this area of tech, but it can be hard — there’s a very steep learning curve! Lots of statistics and information to get used to. That said, there is this new approach with tools where you don’t need to know the details, you can just go ahead and use models and experiment. That’s really exciting to me.

How about local trends? Is there anything exciting you at the moment?

There’s a solid tech and product community developing here in Dubai, so giving back to local groups via tech talks, and contributing to a nice environment for sharing experiences in tech. At Property Finder we do host tech meetups where we talk about the experiences and our journey using a particular tech and interact with other enthusiasts in the region.

What are the most exciting challenges you have on your plate today?

Security — its a big thing globally and we are taking it seriously at Property Finder. Secondly, ensuring engineering can create real impact. I want engineers to think about product more than just hardcore engineering. The marriage of product and tech is much more powerful than either individually and as I said, we need to innovate more. This is the route to innovation success, I believe.

What makes you feel at home at Property Finder?

The experience of searching for a home is common to everyone and we all have to go through it at some time! I love that I’m in a place where I can make this experience better for thousands of people as I’ve struggled through it too.

Thanks very much for your time, Giri, and for sharing your thoughts with us!

That’s it! Thanks for reading!

If you liked this article and want to be part of our brilliant and growing team of engineers, then have a look at our latest vacancies here.