How long have you been with Goji? What is your role on your team?
I’ve been an employee at Goji since the last week of January 2022. I was hired to be part of the software engineering team.

What initially interested you about Goji? What do you enjoy about working here?
Before I became a software engineer, I worked as an investor relations professional for fund managers in London and in New York. I was keen on finding an opportunity where I could use the knowledge I had gained in my past career, while taking next steps as a developer. Goji turned out to be the perfect match!

What are some of the hidden (or obvious) challenges in the alternative investment landscape that people may not think about? What are the most exciting opportunities to address them?
During my time working in finance, I was shocked by how many of our processes and programs were outdated. Sometimes work that could have been easily automated was done entirely manually. I knew that there was massive opportunity for fintech startups to revolutionise the sector and to streamline the workflow. As soon as I saw a demo of the Goji platforms, I knew how much potential this company had just by how much it would have impacted and bettered my time working in Investor Relations.

Give us the inside scoop – what are some of the unique aspects of working at Goji?
I love that there are no formalities at Goji. Communicating is easy and relaxed whether you’re talking to the CEO, your manager or your peer. This goes a long way to make people comfortable so that everyone always speak their minds and ask questions without the fear of being judged. As a relative newbie and working from home, I feel comfortable enough to reach out to the team when I need help or am not sure about something.

What was your dream job as a child? Tell us a bit about your journey to where you are today.
Growing up in Russia, I was quite keen on classical ballet. I would train after school, five days a week as well as during the weekends. My friends and I were very passionate and dedicated a lot of time and effort to getting the best result possible and winning competitions.

Even though we were serious about dancing, we all knew that we would not make a career out of it (children get selected at a very young age to be professional ballet dancers). But we learned many important skills during our time together: teamwork, discipline and focus to name a few. I’ve gone on to apply those skills to my studies and my work.

I wasn’t quite sure what I wanted to do after university. So I fell into different jobs which ultimately lead me to work in finance. I knew that this was not a career I was passionate about but I kept at it because it was familiar. After seven years I took a leap of faith, left my job and enrolled in a coding bootcamp. It’s been a lot of fun learning a whole new skill set and I am really passionate about my career now.

What would you do if you had unlimited free time?
I would travel the world! I love traveling to new places and visiting old favourites. Especially since the pandemic restricted our travel options quite a bit, I am now even more keen on traveling. The next couple of places I want to explore are Portugal, the United States and Japan.

Any fun projects on the horizon? What are you and your team up to next?
With a different type of client come different client needs. I am looking forward to building new features and expanding on existing ones. There is a great potential for growth and it’s quite exciting to be part of that journey.