LiNKX is a unique source of inspiration for Engineers: Senior Software Architect Charles Chappell

Charles Chappell (Senior Software Architect)

Please tell us about your career summary before LiNKX.
I started working for a local ISP in high school, a relationship I maintained all the way through college, where I briefly worked in Silicon Valley as a Unix systems administrator. I came to Japan as an exchange student, and never really went home. Worked on language learning products for a while, and changed jobs a few times before landing at a company making crash analytics systems that processed gigabytes of data and thousands of reports per second, 24 hours a day. On January 1st, 2021 I joined LiNKX as a Senior Software Architect.

Why did you decide to join LiNKX?
LiNKX sits in that sweet spot between my abilities as an engineer and my personal interests as a hobbyist. Initially, I wasn’t really considering changing jobs, but after a recruiter messaged me about LiNKX, and sitting on it for more than a month, I took a look at the LiNKX website and was blown away. LiNKX as a company was doing everything I was doing as a hobbyist, but also had an open position I could fill to further my career experience with software development and architecture. During the interview process, I asked to speak to current employees of LiNKX and was impressed both with everyone’s technical competence, but also their desire to make a real difference.

What are the Positive/ Challenging points of the Software architect position at LiNKX?
The multidisciplinary nature of LiNKX’s projects is very challenging, but also a unique source of inspiration. The Digital Lab project as an example, spans such a range of competencies, no one person could make it, and yet facilitating the work of such talented co-workers is immensely rewarding.
Many projects at LiNKX sit in that challenging niche, yet each team member within LiNKX is empowered to try new challenges and raise the standards of the company higher, from using the latest in AI research to cutting edge collaborative robots, and constantly evolving architectures.
Architects sit at an amazing confluence of these technologies, where doing what you know isn’t enough, and committing yourself to learn is an absolute must.

What technology are you using now?
Mostly I’m a Java/Kotlin developer, but the Digital Lab project was VueJS, C# .NET and Python, all of which I have worked with, none of which I would call myself proficient in. That’s another interesting part about the job for me, as it allows me to broaden my knowledge and competencies.
In an architect role, being familiar with the technologies available and those adopted in a project is essential, and there are so many opportunities to learn at LiNKX due to the variety of projects.

What technology do you want to/ are learning at LiNKX?
My previous experience was focused on building high-performance applications, although not all systems used today are highly demanding in terms of throughput, modern solutions typically require a very quick response time.
Learning how to use technologies like GraphQL, AWS AppSync, GCP Cloudrun, and others – as well as how to connect them to physical systems like robots – is one of the more exciting things I’m already learning and implementing.

Tell us about some of the projects you have worked on since joining LiNKX:
In my first three months at LiNKX, I have worked on two projects as a software architect. The first one is the Digital Lab which I briefly mentioned before and another one related to running a discovery workshop with a Japanese legacy enterprise, aiming to go through an effective digital transformation journey.
Digital Transformation is essential for established and comparatively rigid business environments in Japan. The unfortunate part is that so many companies simply try to go paperless, without actually realizing the full potential of going digital. Design Sprints, when used well for solution discovery, are a tool to identify not just the whats, but the hows and whys, avoiding that trap entirely, and it’s been amazing to experience the process first hand. As an architect, my role was both technical and customer-facing, helping to elucidate requirements, but also to evaluate the technical feasibility of ideas, and translate business requirements into actionable delivery goals.
Pairing that discovery process with a dual-track agile delivery process is next on the list of firsts I’ve had since joining LiNKX, and all of that direct learning from the users is going directly into the final product, ensuring we deliver what they actually need, not our misunderstanding of what they need.
In addition, I’ve been studying the internals of the shikAI system, which is an amazing assistive technology for the blind, and one I hope to be able to contribute to in the future.

Would you recommend this company to your engineer friends? Why?
LiNKX has an extremely flexible work environment, with the opportunity to work in a variety of different disciplines and with a variety of technologies. The work does require self-discipline because there is a good amount of freedom, to choose your own contributions to each project. That means you need to be proactive, and commit your best self to the projects you take on. I HIGHLY recommend it.

Normal schedule during office hour (WFH):

8am - 9am: Project check-in: Review notes from yesterday and check the status of ongoing work items through Slack and email. You’re most likely to get an email or a slack from me during this time.
9am -11am: Concentration time: Work on high focus and detail tasks like documentation and review.
11am -12pm: Meetings and communication regarding the morning tasks, or other outstanding work.
12pm - 1am: Lunch break
1pm - 4pm: New technology evaluation, prototyping and coding
4pm - 5pm: Start taking notes for tomorrow morning and review tomorrow’s schedule
6pm - 8pm: Gym time

What do you usually do after work and holidays?
I visit the gym at least three times a week and typically spend ¼-½ my time on weight training and the rest on a bike.
Also, I develop my own robots at home and love working with electronics, circuit boards, and soldering. I recently completed an OpenCat based robot and our real cat isn’t quite sure what to make of it.
Although I really do enjoy traveling, Corona has put some dampers on that lately.

Message to the future LiNKXer:
Everyone should do what they love. Work is the single biggest expenditure of time over our lives, and spending that time on something which doesn’t excite you is literally giving up on a third of your life or more.
For that reason, you should definitely consider joining LiNKX. There are many opportunities to challenge yourself, and while you aren’t expected to be perfect, you do need to give it your all.
The genuine sense of purpose and mission that comes with the work is better than a cup of coffee at making you want to get up in the morning. The work is exciting and challenging and makes a positive and lasting impact on society.