EMPLOYEE SPOTLIGHT

I always start the day reviewing my emails—as a global company, messages come in at all hours and I always want to be sure I prioritize accordingly.  

Mornings are my focus time, so after I review my inbox, I get started on coding work. Once I hit the afternoon, I switch gears and open my mind and calendar up to collaboration. As a senior developer, I mentor fellow developers as best I can by answering not only programming-related questions, but also historical and contextual questions about projects; what’s been done before, what worked and what failed, what to be cautious about and so on.  

Connecting with other developers is one of the best parts of my job. Programming can be a very isolated activity. I think our team does a really good job of taking the time to strategically step back and voice ideas or issues; because when we do, the result is always much stronger.  

When I first started working on some of our Japanese customer’s projects, I was surprised to learn the unique characteristics they had compared to other projects I had worked on, from product specification to work culture. I appreciated and agreed that being present in Japan was crucial for Configura to understand and serve our customers better. So, I was completely onboard with being part of the expansion plan.  

My short time so far in Tokyo has been humbling – there’s a lot that goes into starting a new office; and many surprises! Though we’ve gone through much trial and error, I believe we’re on track to achieve our goals. We are working hard towards expanding Configura’s ecosystem, including CET Material Handling and CET Commercial Interiors, while also providing exceptional service to our customers and end users. 

I really enjoyed working on the Troax back fencing project where I was responsible for most of the hands-on programming work. Troax has been our long-time customer—on the Configura Classic platform since 1995—and this was their first venture into the CET Material Handling ecosystem. We were a small team working closely with the customer and we progressed to deliver a quick, efficient first release of the Extension. I’m more than excited to continue working on Troax's full CET Material Handling migration project in 2023. 

Following the COVID-19 pandemic, it was uncertain if Configura was going to “return to normal.” I’m glad we took a balanced stance about remote work and rolled out a 50/50 hybrid model. 

The pandemic taught us a lot about working digitally, so as we started moving towards working in global project teams, we already had the tools needed such as Teams, quality headsets and webcams. The leap from that way of working to a global way of collaborating was not that wide.  

My philosophy is to treat any workday as if I were at the office. If I would walk to someone’s desk to ask a quick question or say, “hey, do you have a minute?” then I do the same online. It’s really no different. Of course, working globally does come with challenges—one big one being the time zone shifts. Recognizing and having respect for individual focus time versus collaboration time is key. We continue to get better at using the tools we have, such as our Teams status or booking focus time on our calendars to ensure a good work-life balance, as well as scheduling time to collaborate with team members wherever they are in the world.