Q&A with Taimi, Engineering Intern
Right now, I’m doing an internship in the Verification Product team. The team focuses on making our verification processes smoother for our customers. For my project, I’ve been working on how our microservices communicate with each other. This has included sending Kafka events and creating API calls. The rationale is to make sure our new tools communicate with new services properly, and the information flow between the services is seamless. The ultimate goal is to make our ID document verification process easier.
Why did you join Wise?
I had been backpacking in Australia and New Zealand. During my trip, I had to transfer money between my accounts. I saw someone sharing about Wise on social media and realised it solved my problems. I was impressed with how quickly and cheaply I could transfer money. When I was back from travelling, I went to see if there were open jobs I could apply for and got in!
What’s the biggest challenge working here?
Information overload. There’s so much info everywhere and finding what you need can be difficult as you often don’t know what you’re missing. So you need to be very aware of what’s important to know for your job. My tip for new joiners would be to try to stay up-to-date – check the wiki and ask people.
What’s the most interesting project you’ve worked on?
The one I’m currently working on. It’s fascinating to see what’s going on in the background, how documents get from A to B and the technical details that happen to verify our customers.
What does working with freedom and autonomy mean to you?
For me, it means lots of responsibility. You have the freedom to make decisions – what you want to work on and prioritise. But with that freedom comes the responsibility to pick the right things that will have the most impact on our customers.
What’s the most unusual job you’ve ever done?
When I was backpacking in New Zealand, I did some farm work. I spent a couple of months at a broccoli and lettuce farm. I was cutting broccoli with a machete. When I grabbed the machete in the morning and was chopping off broccoli, I was like ‘who knew I’d do something like this’ – such a random experience.
What’s your side hustle?
Engineering. I’m trying to learn as much as possible – doing online courses, watching YouTube videos and trying to improve my skills constantly. I’m still a beginner, so I spend a lot of my free time learning more and more.
Favourite slack group?
#dogs-of-tallinn – it’s people posting photos of their dogs in the office and what’s happening with them. And I love dogs!
