From Cocktails and Snorkelling to Building a Digital Marketplace for FreeFlexers
Cracking the Code with Tech Lead Treasure
In our recurring series “Cracking the Code”, we ask inspiring team members at Gapstars five questions about their work and how they fulfil their career aspirations.
Today we are talking to Treasure Priyamal, Tech Lead for our partner Temper. He tells us about his work with Temper, how he ventured into Software Engineering, his thoughts on remote working during a pandemic, and how he’s fond of snorkelling and boat rides.
So, let’s get cracking.
What excites you about your role and what are you working on right now?
I work for Gapstars partner Temper as a Tech Lead. At Temper, we enable logistics, retail and hospitality companies to find FreeFlexers. Temper currently has around 150,000 freelancers and 10,000 clients registered with us.
As a Tech Lead, I’m responsible primarily for planning, designing, leading and executing solutions for features of the platform.
What interests me about working at Temper, is that I have the opportunity to work with the most talented engineering team I’ve been in so far. I find that incredibly exciting.
How did you decide to start a career in Software Engineering? Tell us more about your childhood interests.
Ah! It’s through a happy accident that I got interested in Software Engineering.
When I used to learn to play the guitar, I visited a friend of mine from time to time to get Guitar chords for my favourite songs from the Internet. One day, I accidentally opened a saved webpage through Windows Notepad instead of using the web browser. That’s when I saw the HTML code which made the webpage. It intrigued me and I wanted to learn more about it. I started searching on YouTube for coding tutorials to understand more about how webpages worked. That was my first step towards becoming a Software Engineer.
How has the current climate impacted your priorities and work?
Well, we certainly are living through a rather difficult time. It definitely has had a significant impact on a great number of people. I can’t say the same when it comes to myself, though.
Even before the pandemic, we were already working remotely at Temper, right here from Sri Lanka. With that experience, I already had a good grasp on being productive whilst working from home.
However, I have to say that I miss the daily interactions I had with my colleagues when I used to work from the office.
What do you enjoy when you’re not coding?
I spend most of my time with my family and my daughter. She’s two years old now, and she’s intensely fascinated by everything around her.
I’m also a big fan of comics. I watch or read any comic-related content that I can get my hands on.
There also are a few TV Shows and Films I watch when I get some free time. I like Naruto Shippuden, Supernatural, Friends, HIMYM, BBT, Avengers, and as a fan of the horror genre, Conjuring.
What would be your perfect day?
A perfect day would be a day I spend outside with my family and friends. I wouldn’t say that I’m a person hugely interested in the outdoors, but my wife and friends are big fans of going out when there’s a chance.
My perfect day would look something like this:
I wake up a bit earlier than usual.Have breakfast with my family and friends.Go to the beach. Enjoy snorkelling and going on boat rides.Have a delicious lunch.To end the day, a drink with my friends. I’d say that an Old Fashioned cocktail is the best drink to make the day perfect.
Share one tip or advice on how to stay productive when “working from home”.
I have a few pointers that work for me.
Find a place where you can work without disturbances.Try to lock down a time to start working and at what time you end your day. Limit working strictly to this window.Be transparent about your daily schedule so that your family can plan according to that.The calendar is your friend. Allocate time slots on the calendar according to your daily plan.Slack is a fantastic tool where you can update on how available you are.
This is the fourth instalment of our recurring Cracking the Code series where we tell the stories of the inspiring team members with us here at Gapstars.
Find out how Senior Software Engineer Hashan is Powering a Fashion Marketplace here.
Find out how our Senior QA Engineer Shanika fights evil codes here.
And find out how Technical Specialist Naveen Wijeratne is working on Smart Mobility while practising Jiu-Jitsu here.
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From Cocktails and Snorkelling to Building a Digital Marketplace for FreeFlexers was originally published in Gapstars on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.