5 Things We Know to be True in 2016
357 days down, just nine more to go. Our engineers and community manager give us the low-down on whether the year has been naughty or nice.
#1 The Struggle is REAL
2016 was the year that Wobe engineers made the important decision to build the Wobe application using React Native, as opposed to using classic android Java. While React Native does have its benefits (such as faster creation time and recycling codes across iOS and android operating systems), but it also meant that our engineers had to up their game in order to meet the demands and potential of this software.
Alexis Duran, our engineer based in Venezuela, says “2016 has been a huge challenge, from (my temporary) move to Asia to diving into really new technologies. He adds, “(React Native) has an intense community that releases new versions of react native every fifteen days giving us more things to read, to study, (and) tools to make our project more exciting… I have often had to struggle late into the night but…the satisfaction of making things and knowing that you have given your 100% on a project is absolutely worth it.”
Closer to the ground, Lidya Christina, our community manager, also faced plenty of challenges. “Reaching out to people and encouraging them to sign up as Wobe agents is fun, but also, very challenging,” she says. “Difficulties largely stem from the lack of access to more rural places in Indonesia, unreliable internet connection in some parts, incompatible mobile devices and a general lack of understanding of financial services.”
Yet, despite the apparent challenges, Lidya and her team achieved a commendable 72% success rate when it came to Wobe promotion and agent recruitment (Alpha Release report, Nov 2016). Undoubtedly, this was a result of sheer hard work and determination to understand users’ needs. For instance, she and her team members organised several on-ground events in Surabaya, Jogjakarta, Malang, Jember, Lombok, Jakarta, Bekasi and Bogor in order to gather insights from users’ perspective.
#2 People Change (Literally)
2016 was also the year that we introduced many new faces to the Wobe engineering team. One of them is Alok Singh, who is Wobe’s senior software engineer. He says, “For me, working at Wobe has been partly therapeutic. The tech-stack is cutting edge and the mixture of fear and anticipation as we move towards (our app) launch reminds me that this is where I want to be.”
2016 was also the year we met Vamsee Kanakala, Wobe’s DevOps Engineer. “I’ve been with the Wobe Engineering team for a little more than 3 months now, and it’s been quite an exciting journey to meet the team, and getting to know the technology stack… We are in the process of completely automating our AWS setup with tools like Terraform and Vagrant. This will help us quickly setup multiple production-like deployment environments for our development, staging and testing needs. This also adds significant flexibility to how fast we respond to changes in our traffic patterns and save the resources we expend on web infrastructure outlay.”
Another new face at the office — not literally, because we work remotely for the most part of the year — is Paramananda Ponnaiyan, or just Param for short, who is Wobe’s new Vice-President of Engineering. “In the last month of 2016 I got introduced to one of most enthusiastic, qualified and accomplished teams I have ever worked with. Every member is bubbling with energy and ready to do what is necessary for the success of Wobe and our customers… In the New Year, I look forward to our Tech team growing and executing with ever increasing efficiency by evolving engineering methodologies that just work. By releasing regularly internally and externally, we will have the agility to handle the varying needs of our market. Our Tech stack, which is already cutting edge, will be a symbol of quality.”
Well said, Param :+1:
#3 Our Users Always Come First #Priorities
Despite all the hustle and bustle in 2016, we are always reminded that our users (i.e. the users’ experience) take precedence as we build the app and organise on-ground events. Lidya explains: “interacting with everyday people and sharing experiences with them is fundamental to Wobe’s current and future success.” Similarly, Param adds: “as we branch out into other verticals like water, electricity and other utilities, our product team will continue to bring joy to our customers with easy to use, well designed features.”
#4 New Projects, New Opportunities
In 2016, we started many new exciting projects, such as this Engineering blog. To have such an open platform for us to regularly share our thoughts and experiences is quite a privilege for us and we can only hope to provide a lot more interesting and thought-provoking content that our dear readers can benefit from.
#5 Big Dreams for 2017
As far as we have come this year, the Wobe engineering team has its sights on bigger and better things in 2017.
“In 2017, I look forward to the Beta release of our App and growth from 100 users to 20000 and beyond, “ said Param. “We will have to do this by keeping our ears to the ground with the help of our front-line in Indonesia, by dreaming up new tech solutions with the help of our Top engineering Talent and conquering new markets with the vehemence and conviction of the whole team!”
“Let’s do what we did in 2016, but better,” quips Lidya. “I am happy that we have met or exceeded our target growth goals this year. But, I am excited to see new people come onboard so that we can accomplish more in 2017.”
Alexis is also optimistic. “I’m looking forward to what the next year will unfold for me. I want to see Wobe making a bigger impact and for all of us to embrace the new challenges ahead and find new ways to construct the most kickass software there is.”
:clap: :clap: :clap:
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Author’s Note: To our dear readers, we wish you a Merry Christmas and have a Happy New Year.
