Life as a Tech Lead in lesfurets

Vincent, tell us a bit more about yourself?

I’m Vincent. I’m 32-years-old and I’ve been at lesfurets since 2019 and a technical lead since June. 
 
I studied IT at Masters level. I’ve been in different roles during my professional career: developer, trainer, technical coach, IT consultant and now tech lead.

What’s your mission at lesfurets? 

I’m part of the Finance and Utilities team at lesfurets. The team is made up of a product owner, product manager and a software engineer. 
 
A lot of it involves working on comparison forms for our energy supplier or home internet, for example. We can carry out loan comparison simulators, but also put our customers in touch with partners for a mortgage. The scope is rather vast! 
 
And in this team I take on the role of Technical Lead. This job has several responsibilities; facilitating team events, training developers in their practices and methodologies, coaching developers so that can flourish in their professional careers but also coding, like a software engineer. 

If I had to sum up my job in one sentence it would be “Create the most relevant product while trying to grow the people in the team.” 

What is a software engineer? 

To describe the role of a software engineer it’s easier to use the analogy of building a house versus building a website. If I want to build a house I need to call on lots of people.  I have to start off with an architect to refine the plans for the house. Next I need professionals in building to put in place the foundations, the walls, the roof, the windows and electricity – all while respecting the architect’s plans. You could also call on an interior decorator to take care of the layout. It is relatively the same for the website. You need a team of software engineers to take care of several things: first establish the architecture of the website and next start its construction. Once all the foundations are in place you can finally work on its visual aspect. To conclude a software engineer is the equivalent of an artisan – he/ she is going to be present at every stage in the development of the website. 

How would you describe lesfurets and their ‘burrow’? 

The work in my team is as satisfying as it can be in terms of being challenged by new projects, but equally in terms of the ambiance/culture. We all help each other – even those IT teams who do not work on the same products as us. Beyond IT we rub shoulders with people in other lines of work in the business such as marketing, commercial, HR and legal. This close working helps strengthen the links within the ‘burrow’! 

Tell us a character trait that’s typical of your job? 

When I hear people complain: ‘The shopping cart doesn’t work properly on this site. It is exhausting.” “My information is not updated yet – they are not capable of coding correctly!” I tend to reply by giving a reason that could explain why this is happening.  

Can you tell us an anecdote from your time working at lesfurets? 

After having announced to my parents that I got the job here, my mum unintentionally misquoted me. Telling the news to all my relatives: “You know my son is going to a new job at the weasels.”