Minh: A Software Developer's Journey Towards a Leadership Role, Fostered by Ellie

Careers

Culture

Siiri from TalentBee

Meet Minh Nguyễn, a dedicated Software Developer at Ellie. An expat who moved to Finland for education and work, Minh embodies professional and personal growth, and continuous learning. From honing his skills at Integrify to strengthening frontend development at Ellie, Minh's story is an inspiring one.

Guided by Ellie’s supportive CTO, Jari “Jaffa” Jaanto, Minh aims to play a pivotal role in Ellie's pursuit of global market dominance. At the same time, he’s pursuing his own career goals, one of which is to become a Team Lead in the coming years.

Minh's journey: becoming a Software Developer at Ellie

Minh began his journey in his hometown, Ho Chi Minh University of Technology, but a yearning for an international environment and self-improvement led him to leave his comfort zone. He moved to Finland as an expat in 2018, seizing the opportunity of a scholarship for international students to study at Vaasa University of Applied Sciences (VAMK). This move marked the beginning of an exciting new chapter in his life.

“After completing my studies, I worked for 10Monkeys and Integrify, where I gained valuable experience but craved a different kind of work environment. I wanted to be part of a product company, where I could nurture one project like a child, rather than just finish work and leave, as I did as a consultant”, Minh thinks back.

The opportunity to switch paths came during a lunch meeting with an ex-colleague, who was a friend of Johannes Hovi, Ellie's CEO. Hearing that Ellie was looking for a software developer, Minh took the leap, applied, and joined the Ellie team.

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I wanted to be part of a product company, where I could nurture one project. -Minh

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Minh's journey illustrates the importance of taking risks and seeking growth opportunities, even if they're outside your comfort zone.

“Minh has very ambitious future goals. We have been aligning them with our company growth, so he can develop towards his targets as we expand. As we grow in international markets, new opportunities arise. Minh is taking steps towards becoming a team lead, a journey I'm committed to supporting and assisting him with", says our CTO Jaffa, who mentors his team members towards their career goals.

Right now: Minh’s sculpting the user experience at Ellie

Since joining our team, Minh has been instrumental in refining the look and feel of Ellie's app, concentrating on frontend development with occasional backend tasks. One of his significant initial challenges was refactoring the component styling to enhance the app's aesthetics and user experience.

Taking an increasingly stronger position as an expert and doing tasks and development projects more and more independently every day takes Minh towards his own growth goals.

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Right now, I strive to adopt the customer's perspective, focusing on improving the UI/UX design based on user feedback. -Minh

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“Ellie's mission is to bridge the communication gap between business and technology teams through its data modeling tools. I strive to adopt the customer's perspective, focusing on improving the UI/UX design based on user feedback”, Minh explains.

“A notable project I led was the implementation of the subtype relationship feature. This new functionality has made it easier for customers to group entities together, enhancing navigation and clarity within the app and improving overall performance”, he continues.

Before the implementation of this project, customers were unable to group entities that shared common properties (attributes) or establish any super-sub type relationships. Now, following the enhancements, customers can effortlessly specify the super type entity which possesses a common property for its subtypes and establish a super-sub type relationship between them. The primary keys of both the supertype and subtype are consistently identical.

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“BMW and Audi are the subtype of the car. And they both share the common feature of a car of having wheels. By using this feature, we can group things in common and make only one connection,” Minh explains.

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Minh is keenly attuned to customer feedback channels and maintains close ties with product managers to gain insights for continuous improvement. His work helps to ensure Ellie's SaaS tool remains customer-centric and efficient, making him an integral part of Ellie's ongoing success.

Why does Minh aspire to become a Team Lead at Ellie?

Minh has set ambitious career goals for himself. His aspirations include becoming a specialist in frontend development and eventually stepping into a team lead role. These goals align seamlessly with Ellie's vision, as the company encourages employees to continually expand their skill sets and progress along their career paths.

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I found a passion for helping others struggling with their careers. -Minh

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“Before transitioning into tech, I worked as an English teacher in my hometown, and after joining Integrify as a Full Stack Developer I also worked as a teaching assistant. I found a passion for helping others struggling with their careers. At Ellie, I hope to continue assisting others, not from an HR perspective, but by leveraging my tech knowledge to guide my team,” Minh thinks.

How exactly is Ellie supporting Minh in his personal growth goals?

Ellie supports Minh's growth and development to become a Team Lead in various ways. Every six months, the team holds a prospects discussion, where they talk about upcoming decisions and future objectives. These goals are then broken down into smaller, attainable tasks, allowing each team member to contribute according to their strengths and interests.

“Right now, I’m encouraged to be independent and take ownership of my projects. I’m involved in outlining features, styling, and contributing ideas to make Ellie more user-friendly. My ambition to pursue a master's degree is also supported, as Ellie recognizes that higher education can enhance analytical skills and efficiency”, Minh says.

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“Right now, I’m encouraged to be independent and take ownership of my projects”, Minh says.

CTO Jaffa plays a crucial role in Minh's growth journey at Ellie. He provides guidance whenever needed, fostering an environment where questions and curiosity are welcomed. He also builds a supportive and family-like work environment that makes Ellie feel like a second home to Minh, further motivating him to achieve his professional goals.

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People joining startups tend to be ambitious. They care about how the company can support them in their journey. -Jaffa, CTO

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“At Ellie, we have a set of strategies that align personal and company goals, fostering an environment where our people can advance in their careers. The path to growth varies, some may want to evolve as leaders, others as experts. People joining startups tend to be ambitious. They care about how the company can support them in their journey”, Jaffa thinks.

“The path to growth varies, some may want to evolve as leaders, others as experts”, our CTO Jaffa says.

Aligning personal growth with Ellie's vision for the future

Ellie's company goals revolve around providing data teams with tools and frameworks to ensure tangible business value when creating new data products. As a startup, Ellie also puts a strong emphasis on making employees feel involved in building the company's success. This culture aligns with Minh's aspirations of becoming a specialist in frontend development and eventually a team lead.

Minh's journey at Ellie began with a curiosity about data and a desire to explore new technologies. His understanding of the domain has expanded significantly. He has learned about conceptual data modeling and how it could transform textual requirements into comprehensive models.

“I see Ellie's SaaS tool as a mind map for the data world, providing value especially to business and enterprise users. It allows them to communicate specifications and user needs to IT departments more efficiently, with different model layers catering to various user roles”, Minh explains.

Looking towards the future, Minh envisions himself playing a key role in Ellie's journey to revolutionize data and metadata modeling. Minh sees his future growth intertwined with Ellie's success, and he is eager to contribute towards achieving their shared vision.

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Ellie's support for personal development resonates with my ambitions. – I also believe the company is in a unique position to dominate a large market, being one of the first to provide such a tool! -Minh

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“I appreciate the freedom Ellie provides in terms of impacting my work and the flexibility they offer for further studies. Ellie's support for personal development resonates with my ambitions. I also believe the company is in a unique position to dominate a large market, being one of the first to provide such a tool!” Minh says.

“As we grow, say to 300 people, there will be different roles to step into and challenges to overcome in a scaling environment. At Ellie, we're determined to create a space for growth-minded people like Minh for career growth and evolution”, Jaffa says.