“If you take a journey on the road with ups and downs, your journey becomes more interesting.”--Moses Kabungo 【Baridi Baridi employee interview vol.10】

This time, we interviewed Moses Kabungo, our Software Engineer Leader in Baridi Baridi Tanzania.

Baridi Baridi members appearing in this interview

Moses Kabungo
Learned about engineering at university in Dodoma. After graduating, worked as a freelance and consulted in the software domain for the companies. Joined Baridi Baridi’s Software team in 2021. Currently assigned as Software Engineer Leader.

Shuto Sakai (Interviewer/Editor)
Currently a graduate student at Kobe University. Joined Baridi Baridi as an intern in October 2020. Experienced working as an intern at Baridi Baridi Tanzania from August to October 2021. Hobby is running

As a leader of the software team

--Thank you for your time today. Could you introduce yourself first?

Moses: Okay, sure. My name is Moses Kabungo. I'm a leader of the software team that includes seven members. Mainly, we're expanding in terms of software. What I am mainly doing is designing software.

Also, I communicate with our vendors. Whatever we have, we need to make sure we cooperate with our vendors to make operations move forward.
Recently, we started to develop our in-house software. I supervise my team to see that everything is in check.

--I see. As a leader, what do you do?

Moses: As a leader, I oversee development, like reviewing code from every developer.

I need to make sure that what they've developed is in check with our policy and source code to ensure security is implemented in our source code.

We need to secure the environment that would pertain to our deployment in the cloud.

--Don’t you write source codes by yourself?

Moses: Normally, I can't write everything by myself. That's why we have other people handle different tasks. I write about 80% of our backend. On the other hand, in the front end, I supervise. 

--Okay. In the future, will you take less time writing source codes as a leader?

Moses: Yes, it will keep decreasing as team members increase. But at the moment, to ensure that we have a strong foundation, I have to use my hand.

“If you take a journey on the road with ups and downs, your journey becomes more interesting.”

--I would ask about your team's mood and atmosphere.

Moses: Okay. So normally, in the software, it's a lot of excitement. And excitement is relative. Sometimes we are put under pressure because we need to meet deadlines.

When we deliver to them, then it's the cheerful moment that is very exciting.

Generally, I would say that if you take a journey on a road which has no ups and downs, then that road, that challenge is boring. 

But if you take a journey on the road with ups and downs, your journey becomes more interesting. That’s why I would like software.

--Okay, how about working in the global team? Global team means your team includes Pankaj san (Engineering Mgr. from India) and Ayaka san (Business developing Mgr. from Japan)

Moses: Working in a team with global members gives us cross-functional. We learn many things that include some new technology from other languages and communicating efficiently with people from different backgrounds. 

It increases our capacity as well. Ayaka san has good experience in designing, and Pankaj san is a very good engineer. So, we learn a lot of things.

--I think you are eager to learn about other cultures.

Moses: Yes, I tend to ask what the person believes in. For example, I asked you, “What is your belief?”

--Yes. I remember.

Moses: I am a Christian. But some people are not Christian. So, I start knowing each other and understanding other’s background and what their motives to work. 

So, for example, when someone asked me a question, I asked them back, even if they are atheists.

The most important thing to remember when working as a software engineer

--What did you do before coming to Baridi Baridi?

Moses: I used to work as a freelance consulting company. Most of my clients were software companies, and the tasks was about software development.

--I see. How many years did you do engineering?

Moses: I completed my bachelor’s degree in 2013. Then, I started working in 2014, and that's where I began to grow my career as a freelancer. Then I joined Baridi Baridi in 2021.

--What is the reason that you decided to join Baridi Baridi?

Moses: Okay, first of all, I got to know Baridi Baridi from Pankaj, and I found that I prefer to work in environments where the culture is like a startup because I can get a lot of learning, not just according to software also other things. 

I saw it as an opportunity for me to grow. It's not like the culture of a big corporation, like a startup where everybody can participate in building everything.

--Okay. You mean a flat culture.

Moses: Yes. For example, if I were to go to a too organized company, the room to learn would be very difficult because everything's set up. If you work with formality, you only carry on routine tasks that limits your learning ability.

--Okay. What was the impression about Baridi Baridi or Pankaj san in your job interview?

Moses: I met him in the interview. He gave me a lot of engineering questions So, I liked him because of his attitude about engineering and his wealth of knowledge, his experience.

--Nice. I heard that you decided to join Baridi Baridi to work with Pankaj san.

Moses: Yes. he's clear, friendly, and knows a lot of things. So, I think it is the expectation of most people that they will learn from him.

--Okay. And next is what is an important thing for working as a software engineer for you?

Moses: Okay, the most important thing is to be calm. Because as a software engineer, you're going to face a lot of pressure, not just in Baridi Baridi. At that time, you need to be calm and confirm what you should do.

For example, if you misunderstand requirements, you're going to waste time. So make sure your understanding is correct before doing any work.

Also, one more thing regarding calm attitude is that if you're a leader, you need to be calm, not overreacting to small, minor things. So you need to know when to react and be cool. That is also an important thing.

--Thank you.

“In the future, I want to manage larger teams and larger projects.”

--What is your goal as an engineer? 

Moses: Okay. So, the first thing is to improve my skill of managing. I want to be promoted to engineering manager.

-- What do you mean by that?

Moses: Now, I’m a software leader, but my future goal is to improve further. I want to manage a bigger team and bigger projects. That is my target.
Baridi Baridi will be big, but expanding our project is not easy. So, how do we manage shortly?

We need to make sure that we don’t limit ourselves to the Tanzanian environment but leave room for expansion.

For example, if you design a system, you need to make sure that you don’t design not only for Tanzania, but you need to make sure that in the future, it's possible to design the system for other countries as well. 

So don't limit yourself. Instead, make sure you leave room for expansion. We also need to make sure that our design allows for scalability. Right now, we might have just a few customers.

We may deploy our software in the sources which accommodate those few customers. 

Still, in the future, we need to make sure that the same software can be deployed in multiple servers and other resources to support many customers.So, designing our implementation takes care of scalability.

--I see.

Moses: This is the important thing in managing projects in the future software team.

--Okay, finally, do you have any messages to others?

Moses: The main message I would tell everybody of Baridi Baridi is we have four values; “Work as a professional,” “speed matters,” “bright and cheerful,” and “integrity to people and society.” 

Let’s make sure that we improve on those four values. I believe we can be ambassadors ourselves.
Thank you.

Moses: The first thing I've learned is openness. Okay. I'll tell you. I don't know if it's part of our culture. In most companies, you will find out the CEO is locked himself in a room. 

To see him, you need to face the manager beforehand, and you need to go through a secretary. I think that kind of environment is somewhat scarier. It's very difficult to push things forward.

On the other hand, for example, when I needed to see Hiroki, it was very quick. We can consult Hiroki and then get things over. This kind of structure, I would say, is one thing that I've learned from the culture of Baridi Baridi.

Such an open environment is more suitable for me to cooperate than where CEOs lock themselves in the room. Some sense of being valued or your presence being appreciated increases more in our environment.

I think many people in Baridi Baridi would reply that they prefer where their boss is at the same table. CEO is their next table. Most people would prefer that because it makes them recognizable.

When I first arrived here, our office was only downstairs. There were a lot of tables in the room, where people were sitting at each of those, regardless of whether that person was the CEO or not.

I was a little surprised, but I didn't ask anyone. I found out that this is the culture. Now that I have adapted to it, I like the culture.

The Baridi Baridi Times will be posting interviews with Baridi Baridi employees on note.
Baridi Baridi HP 
Baridi Baridi Service Site
CEO Asada's note