VP of Engineering

amptalk Culture

1. Product Driven

We focus on solving our users' issues, not just writing code.

We are a product-driven company that is focused on our users. Our discussions are always centered around our customers' needs.

I like working with people and in software engineering maybe the impression people get is you work alone a lot but at least a lot of my work right now is talking to customers not directly but getting feedback from customers through chat or talking to the product managers talking to my CEO, CTO, working with my other teammates to you know figure out how to implement a feature right so I like that collaborative process and I like solving problems...I really enjoy working here because I think everyone is on the same page when we are discussing features we're always talking about 'is this really the right thing to implement does it really improve the quality of life for our users?' I think how to succeed as an engineer at least in amptalk is to have a strong interest in the improving the product.

Shunji Lin (Software Engineer)

We use our own amptalk platform to gain feedback from customers. By "dogfooding" our own products, we ensure that the amptalk platform meets the needs of our users and exceeds our expectations for usability and performance. This customer feedback is always available as recorded conversations so software engineers can gain insight into customer needs. This customer-focus enables amptalk to deliver high-value minimum-viable products at a rapid pace.

2. Creative + Innovative

We encourage everyone to employ creativity and outside the box thinking to solve problems.

We encourage our team to go beyond solving our users' immediate problems. Until now, our best features have come from implicit or hidden information within user feedback. We look at feedback from many angles to discover our users' underlying needs and produce compelling features that achieve high user satisfaction. To support rapid feature development, amptalk has a solid testing infrastructure.

We value and think about the ability to rapidly develop the product, while maintaining its quality. The product is tested in many different ways, and we do a lot of automated testing. When we talk to start-ups in the same phase they are surprised that we have several thousand automated tests. At amptalk, we think these tests are a valuable thing for engineers. When we develop new features we do not have to be worried that we are breaking existing features. Of course, the tests are also for the sake of the customers and the business side. But the most important thing is the ability to develop new features with a safe and unworried mind.

Keita Suzuki (CTO) translated from Japanese

We want to anticipate our users' future needs while answering their current needs. At amptalk, we foster a culture of creativity and have a testing infrastructure that supports this.

3. End to End Ownership

Each team member has a hand in shaping the product and team.

At amptalk, every team member can shape the product and contribute to its success. Our engineers practice end-to-end ownership in their work from design to implementation and monitoring. They contribute at every phase of its development.

I intentionally do not manage that much. But if there is a more junior engineer who wants some help deciding what to do first, I will help them break down the problem. 'First, you need this screen, then you need to prepare this kind of API. Then you might need to implement this in the backend.' I will help do the task disassembly in detail. But if you are a self-reliant engineer, I intentionally remain hands off. You will likely want to break down the problem yourself.

Keita Suzuki (CTO) translated from Japanese

For example, our engineers engage with customers to understand their needs. They help design features that meet their requirements. They take pride in their work and the quality of the final product. Ownership extends beyond coding. Our engineers take on other responsibilities such as mentoring engineers hiring, and organizing team-building activities.

4. Blameless Retros

We hold regular blameless retrospectives to assess failures and celebrate successes.

At amptalk, we value continuous improvement of processes which creates a supportive and open work environment. We don't point fingers, ever. We always speak about improving the processes.

I think that's the biggest thing because we're big on processes. When anybody makes a mistake or anything goes wrong, it's more of the process rather than the actual individual, you know? And so here we tend to just like, look at the processes over and over again to make sure that it's all good.

Tam Nguyen (Software Engineer)

For an engineering candidate, this means joining a team that values their work and recognizes their contributions. With a focus on process improvement rather than blame, our engineers can work in a supportive environment. At amptalk, engineers feel empowered to take risks and experiment without fear of repercussions. This atmosphere creates a more enjoyable and fulfilling work experience, with increasing opportunities for personal and professional growth.

I think, personally, I like to focus on things that we can improve. Of course, when something goes wrong, it's easy to just say, like, hey, this person did this thing wrong badly, so we should put the blame on this person. But yeah, maybe it's valid. Sometimes it's valid, of course, but I think at the very minimum, we should always try to look at are there any gaps in our processes? What can we do to prevent something like this from happening again? And I think that improves the morale for teammates to know that you are in a safe environment where you are okay to make mistakes as long as you follow the process. But then if we spend too much energy focusing on why someone did something badly, I think that just takes away our energy from doing something that can have much better long term impact.

Shunji Lin (Software Engineer)

5. Psychological Safety

The ideal environment for working upholds psychological safety.

At amptalk, emotional well-being is central to our work environment. We foster this through our blameless culture, open communication channels, and flexible work arrangements. We always focus on process, never on blame.

amptalk is a place where they want you to be your best self. They're not trying to push you to be one way or another, but essentially, 'what do you like?' And just go for it. They give you that freedom to just do that. So they're not trying to mold you into anything. But if you already have good character and you're just really looking to improve or you're looking to contribute in a way that's like, 'okay, we're really, we're missing this. So, you know, we need it.' And they give you that space. They don't try to question in a way that would make you undermine your decision making, but more like, let's logically and think through these things, you know. What problem are we solving? So lots of space, lots of space. But at the same time, they're willing to help if they want to.

Tam Nguyen (Software Engineer)

Throughout each practice, everyone at amptalk can freely exchange ideas and opinions without fear. Each individual can contribute their ideas and feel valued. Our blameless retrospectives focus on processes, never on blaming individuals.

6. Open Communication

Open communication makes amptalk collaborative, creative, and trustworthy.

At amptalk, we believe in open communication to build trust, enable collaboration, and foster creativity. We mostly communicate through Slack channels where the team can get the latest updates on an as-needed basis. As we scale our team, we're trying to make sure developers can have async access to all information without putting developers in unecessary meetings. Our Slack channels connect us to the latest product releases, software alerts, and customer feedback. You can also keep up with the the team's latest music, entertainment, and food recommendations! Furthermore, we utilize our amptalk platform to archive our internal and external meetings so that anyone can go over the details of past meetings.

7. Customer First

At amptalk, we believe in serving our customers to the best of our ability.

We develop our product with our customers in mind. We conduct regular customer hearings through direct channels where our customers can provide feedback. By using the amptalk platform for our sales processes, we have access to all user feedback to improve our understanding of their problems.

I created a full text search function. I'm not saying that I wanted to provide that function. When we made that function, we were trying to solve the users' issue. The solution of full text search is done only to solve a problem for the user. If I were to speak for other people at amptalk about our values, I think user-first is the most important value.

Koichi Furukawa (Software Engineer) translated from Japanese

In terms of engineering, this means that we do not dive head-first into implementation. Instead, we take a more deliberate approach. We conduct regular sessions to walk through user feedback to scope our features to focus on the essential components.

8. Flexible Work

We believe in flexible work arrangements that allow for a better work-life balance.

We believe in flexible work arrangements that give our employees more control over their personal and professional lives. At amptalk, we are passionate about our work. But we also take pride in our lives outside work. We take pride in spending time with our families. We take pride in practicing our hobbies and enjoying leisure activities. Flexible work arrangements empower every member to take ownership of their schedules and allow us to produce our best work. For example, we have new parents who spread their work over shifts throughout the day to take care of their children or pick them up from daycare. We also have members who are based outside of Tokyo and work remotely.