As tempting as it was to start our first blog post of the year with a 2020 vision gag, we thought...
We’ve been busy. With Covid-19 turning Australian retail on its head, we’ve had to learn, grow and adapt just like any other business. A large part of that has been the introduction of new team members. Today, we catch up with our new Technical Team Leader, Daniel Yazbek.
Dan joined us at the start of April, at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic. Having only met a handful of the rest of the team in person, it was an interesting time to start in a new role. Here’s a bit more about Dan in his own words.
Tell us about your previous role? What was the catalyst for the move to Sherpa?
I was the engineering manager for a company building software in the mental health space. The software is aimed at revolutionising the way mental health services are provided to Australians in need. My role was partly operational and partly managerial. I was responsible for ensuring the engineers had good processes, tools and understanding of the features being built. I also helped out in the design phase of new features – determining how new features would best integrate into our existing platform architecture. I lead the team in the “devops” space ensuring that our solution would scale to meet the increasing demand.
I chose to move on from this role because I want to be part of a smaller team, solving both technical and non-technical problems. I also bring a lot of experience working in small businesses so I am excited to help shape Sherpa in our next phase of growth.
What’s the most prevalent difference between working in that industry and working in the SDD/LMD space?
In the mental health space, there’s a ton of rules and regulations about how we operate, and how we protect the privacy of people who are using the system. This can often lead to large lead-times in getting a new feature defined and released. I’m really excited about the agility with which new features are being built and the contracts we’re in the process of winning! We get to define the roadmap of Sherpa from the ground up!
Sherpa HQ has 8 different nationalities in just a 15 person team. What’s it like working in such a multi-cultural office?
I wouldn’t have it any other way! Being a 2nd generation Australian myself, I increase the nationality count. Having a multicultural team brings different perspectives and I’m glad to see that this is encouraged and nurtured.
What excites you most about 2020?
The opportunities and challenges that will come with Sherpa growing and expanding into different domains. On a personal level, I’m excited about going back to some normality post Covid-19.
As the Technical Team Leader, what is that you hope to bring to Sherpa. What would define your success?
I hope to create a world-class engineering culture where our engineers are the best in the business, and people are knocking at our door wanting to work with us. A small step towards success here would be to encourage a learning and knowledge sharing environment, setting our engineers up for success.
What kind of strategies have you found work best for team success in Technology?
Communication. Technology is really about solving problems that people have. We can’t solve these problems unless we understand them intimately. In order to understand them, we need to communicate well both internally and externally.
The Sherpa team is growing rapidly. Stay tuned for more staff spotlights in the coming weeks.
