This year we decided it’s also time for you to get to know our team a little better. For the first staff spotlight, we’d like to (re)introduce you to one of our senior software engineers: Renita! She’s a familiar face to many of our clients in Metro Manila and one of Akubo’s longest tenured members.
Name: Renita Pioquid Job title: Software engineer Has been in Akubo since: June 2013
Tell us about your career so far. What did you do before you came to Akubo?
Right after college I worked as an IT instructor for 6 months in Aklan (June – November 2008). I left Aklan in June 2009 and applied for a software developer position in a small company in Makati. I left my second job to look for an opportunity to better enhance my skills and that’s when I joined Akubo.
What projects do you work on?
I started working on adding client enhancement requests in Akubo, including the events and memberships feature, and working with another software engineer to completely modify the look and feel of Akubo.
What do you like about being a software engineer?
I think it’s being able to have a chance to use technology to help others.
Tell us about a typical day at work.
Coffee jump-starts my day, then I spend the first few hours making sure I don’t have any unopened emails in my inbox (I hate seeing unopened email notices in my inboxes. Haha), then I plot my schedule for the week so I can easily track my available dates in case a request for product presentation or client visit / meeting pops in. The remaining hours of the day are spent either in development, meetings / visits / sales presentation, and working with other developers.
What’s the most rewarding part about being in Akubo / being a software engineer?
There was this one time when I had to train members of a government office and at the end of the training one of the bosses said, “You’re really good at what you do.” To be appreciated by people you work directly or indirectly because you’ve made their work a little easier / faster (through technology) is I think the best reward.
What do you look forward to learning?
I think being adaptive to new technologies is a good to have skill when you’re a software engineer. In the future, I wish to jump into mobile app development since most users now have access to cellphones. Easy access to smart phones tends to push most service providers now to have a corresponding app available for their services/products.
How do you balance client expectations with your workload?
I tend to set priorities, making sure that urgent needs are tackled first and client expectations are met on time.
What’s the key to managing / completing a project successfully?
Following a development life cycle (SDLC) is key. In every project it is always vital to start with defining the requirements, planning and design before building a product. And always perform thorough testing or series of tests before deployment.
What do you find most challenging about your work? How do you deal with it?
I think I still find doing multiple roles challenging. It often confuses me to switch between tasks, so what I did is to divide my work week between development, sales, tech support and office work. I also use apps like Apple Calendar and Trello to manage schedule and deadlines.
How do you define success?
Success for me is doing things that make me and the people I love happy and things that help others.
What is your philosophy in life / motto / mantra?
To always see things positively.
Tell us about three career lessons you’ve learned so far.
- To know when to speak and when to listen
- To always keep an open mind, and
- To never stop learning.
What does Akubo mean to you?
Akubo is family and friendship. Family because it is supportive and gives you opportunities to help you grow as a person and as a software engineer. Friendship because over the years, I was able to meet real friends in Akubo.
Bonus questions!
Favorite movie: The Age of Adaline
Comfort food: Blueberry cheesecake
If you were a crayon, what color would you be? Blue. It’s calming and it reminds me of the color of the sky and the ocean.
If you could swap places with someone else for a day, who would it be? Mark Zuckerberg, I wanted to know what a day in Facebook is like.