People of Interact: Kenji Phang, Junior Software Engineer

Kenji Phang, Junior Software Engineer is next up in our ‘People of Interact’ interview series! Through ‘People of Interact’, we aim to spotlight the incredible work our team does, celebrating the achievements and journeys our individuals undertake.

Kenji is currently on a placement year at Interact as part of his course at the University of Manchester. In the blog, he details his experience so far as well as what he hopes to take from the placement to support his future career.

Over to you Kenji…

Kenji, tell us a little about your placement ⚙️

I am studying at the University of Manchester, it’s just a short walk from the office. I started my placement at Interact in June 2022 and I’m loving it so far!

Before the placement started, I hoped it would help me to gain exposure to new technologies, learn to build solutions, and to get a better understanding of the world before going into my final year. At Interact, I’ve done all that and more.

Under the supervision of the company’s tech leaders, I’ve had the opportunity to work on real projects. It’s been an incredibly valuable learning experience.

What does your day look like? 💻

Within my role as Junior Software Engineer, I do full-stack development using mainly .NET. My main responsibilities vary; some days I work on solving bugs, and on others, I help with implementing new features. Then there’s also reviewing code and writing documentation.

In my day-to-day, I solve tickets, work with colleagues to find solutions to issues, and go on walks around the office to think of ideas to resolve that one bug.

How would you describe yourself in 3 words? 🤔

Hustler, survivor, dreamer.

Who or what inspires you? 💫

Technology inspires me. It never fails to surprise me with what we can do, it is always evolving and disrupting our lives, and it presents us with a future full of possibilities.

I’m also inspired by Elon Musk. He builds cool things: cars, rockets, and now a social media company!

What are the best things about engineering? 🎉

The best thing about engineering is that it allows me to bring my ideas to life. Whatever you build will impact the lives of others, and I find that really fulfilling. I also like that the problems you get to solve are challenging and it prompts you to think of outside-the-box solutions.

The best thing about the engineering division is the culture. Interact’s has an ideas-first culture, so everyone’s views are listened to and appreciated.

Furthermore, at Interact there are multiple opportunities to take ownership of projects. There are a lot of exciting projects here that you can work on depending on your interests. Lastly, I’m surrounded by talented and supportive people; everyone is very willing to help you out whenever you are stuck with something.

Do you have a favorite project you’ve worked on at Interact?

Developing an internal tool used by the company, which I have been allowed to own.

It took me a good few weeks to dissect the software bit by bit, and eventually, I was able to understand how it works and fits together. I was then able to make changes but it still wasn’t ready and I had a constant fear of breaking something. Fast forward to today and I can confidently implement new features on the project.

Working on this project really gave me real full fullstack software engineering experience, it taught me about the wonderful world of .NET, it taught me many software engineering practices for documenting code and working with frontend, backend, cloud, and most importantly, it taught me how to be persistent when solving challenging problems.

Why should someone do a placement at Interact? 📣 

If you’re looking for a unique internship experience with an opportunity to try out many different roles and technologies, Interact is the right place for you.

You will get to learn a lot and also do a lot. If you’re ever stuck with any issues, the remarkable people here at Interact will not hesitate to assist you and get you on the right track. The support that you can get here from the engineering division is really outstanding.

And finally, what do you enjoy doing when you are not working? 📖

Even more coding, I like building and learning cool technologies. When I want to sit back and relax, I usually just watch YouTube or read manga.

At Interact, we’re constantly on the lookout for talented Engineers and Software Developers to join our technical teams.

You can view our live vacancies here.

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Learn more about working at Interact here.