All of our previous Employee Spotlights have been on individuals on teams that support, demonstrate, communicate, and sell the CosmoLex product; but what about the people who actually build and develop the product? Without that team, everyone’s jobs become much more difficult.
That’s why this month’s spotlight is on Jun Lee, Development Lead at CosmoLex. Jun has joined the team with a diverse background in engineering that allows him to keep up with the demand of our fast-paced environment, while always prioritizing the needs of our customers.
Get to know Jun and get a glimpse into how our development process works by reading his interview below.
What is your role at CosmoLex?
I am a development lead reporting to Pankaj Gupta, CTO. I participate in the development process at several levels including implementation, design, design review, code review, remediation, and deployment. I also look for opportunities to learn and teach engineering techniques, best practices, and clearer communication.
What is your favorite part of your job?
Being a part of a team and learning. Being a part of a team can be humbling and rewarding – you have to be accountable for your actions, even stupid ones. But, sometimes your teammates can come through for you, and sometimes you can come through for your teammates – and that process of building trust and excellence is what differentiates teamwork from individual work. I hope to contribute to building a better team. Learning, similarly, is humbling and rewarding as well. In my 20 years as a software engineer, the pace of change in information technology has grown, and it is more and more crucial for information workers in general and software engineers, in particular, to learn quickly and sift out noise. Being in a context where “domain knowledge” or knowledge of the business and expectations of users drives design and implementation provides that sifting.
What makes CosmoLex a unique place to work?
We move fast, faster than any other work situation I’ve been in. Other places say that they’re devoted to their customers, but we prioritize our workstream with customer issues. Customer centricity often comes at the cost of innovation – while the development team (I’m sure other teams as well) feels the tension between the two, our commitment to execute on behalf of our customers in the immediate, and for the long haul is what can/will set us apart.
What do you like to do in your free time?
I enjoyed playing ultimate frisbee for a while and then I get injured. I hate getting old. Time to play more golf. I also enjoy playing music with my boys who are becoming accomplished jazz musicians – I play the bass to their piano and sax.
Describe one interesting fact about yourself.
I was born in South Korea in the 70s. I have a lot of fondness for the country and culture, but it’s a very different place now than the one I left when I was 11. I grew up in California and had my two kids there, and moved to North Carolina 13 years ago and I felt like a fish out of water because of the cultural differences; obviously more subtle than the move from South Korea to the U.S. but nonetheless real. Now I feel similarly when I go back to California!
What did you want to be when you were a little kid?
Never really had a clear idea – still trying to figure that out. I think maybe I’ll become a better cook and a better musician.
