Terminal Member Spotlight: Simon Reggiani
Bungalow’s mobile developer embraces the optimistic uncertainty that makes startup life so exciting.
Simon Reggiani’s story has its fair share of twists and turns. Each chapter springs to life with experiences ranging from testing military satellites to building mobile apps for major American automotive brands.
In our interview, Simon was candid about the kind of risk-taking that helps mold an average engineer into an incredible one. From packing up his entire life and moving to Canada to swimming with sharks in the warm waters of the Yucatan Peninsula, Simon embraces the optimistic uncertainty that makes startup life so exciting.
This week, we had the opportunity to learn more about Simon and how he came to be the lead mobile developer for Bungalow.
You are originally from France, when did you make the move to Toronto?
Simon: I moved to Canada about seven years ago. I started out in Vancouver where I stayed for six years before moving to Toronto earlier this year. We made the move to Toronto because my wife was offered a new position at work that we just couldn’t pass up.
Why did you leave France and Europe altogether?
To be honest, I got a little bored in France and decided to do something different, so I moved to Canada to start a career in mobile dev. I used to be a Java Enterprise Dev in France, but I’ve been doing mobile dev work for pretty much the whole time I’ve been in Canada. It’s been a journey for sure.
What has that journey looked like professionally?
When I first got to Canada, I took an opportunity to join a small startup, Eventbase, as an Android developer and worked there for three years. I used that job to help me ladder up, so-to-speak, to bigger tech companies. The first was Texture, which got acquired by Apple this year. And then I moved on to Slack.
Did you enjoy working at a larger startup like Slack? What drove you to leave?
Life at Slack was really great. I loved working there, but I eventually decided to ditch it and the great salary in 2017 to join yet another startup. The difference this time was that it was started by some friends. It’s called Poparide, which is a rideshare a platform that has been around for about four years. It was hard to leave my comfy job and say goodbye to all the perks at Slack — the free massages, lunches, and all the snacks, but I wanted to help my friends at Poparide, and learn iOS development on the job since we needed to make the app for both Android and iOS. I worked on Poparide exclusively for about a year. Then I started to take on some freelance work on the side because, as you might expect, the income with a tiny startup just wasn’t there. I got a few projects through Gigster, which is a San Francisco startup that connects established companies (with a budget!) to high-end freelancers. I was able to work on some really cool stuff, including a mobile app project for a major American automotive brand. Then, I was approached by Terminal to work on Bungalow. At first, I was just a contractor, but things were going well and I got the opportunity to join the team full-time earlier this month. I still get to work on Poparide on the side, so it’s really been great.
How did you enjoy freelancing as a mobile developer?
I had never freelanced before so working with Gigster was great. Sure, they took a percentage, money I could have pocketed finding and working on projects myself, but they dealt with all of the back and forth, the contracts, the negotiations, etcetera. I think people often overlook how much time that part takes in freelancing. As for the projects, I really enjoyed them, especially the automotive one, but I figured it was time to do something new. What Terminal offered was exactly what I was looking for — a cool company (Bungalow) that was kind of small with a lot of potential and plenty of opportunities for me to build and do meaningful work.
You work full-time on Bungalow and spend a lot of your free time working on Poparide, but what do you like to do when you aren’t strapped to your work desk?
Sometimes I feel like such a nerd typing a way on a computer six days a week. And I got to the point where I felt like I needed to do something with my hands, something physical, so I started taking a woodworking class and I’m also watching a lot of YouTube videos and learning on my own. I also enjoy active stuff like volleyball, tennis, and scuba diving.
Who are some people in the dev community that you follow? What are some of the newsletters or podcasts that you think other Terminal members should check out?
That’s a great question — there are a lot of great resources out there. Here are a few I enjoy:
People who tweet:
- Dan Abramov — React/Redux dev — https://twitter.com/dan_abramov
- Sophie Alpert — React manager — https://twitter.com/sophiebits
- Jake Wharton — Android dev — https://twitter.com/JakeWharton (edited)
Weekly newsletters:
- iOS: https://iosdevweekly.com/
- Android: http://androidweekly.net/
- React Native: http://reactnative.cc/ (edited)
Podcasts:
- Android: http://fragmentedpodcast.com/
- React Native: https://devchat.tv/react-native-radio/
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