Yotako’s Got Talent! #01
At Yotako we are convinced to be blessed to have such incredible people working in our startup. We couldn’t achieve our mission (making front-end development great again) without top profiles working hard to make it happen.
We are so proud of our crew that we decided to stop talking about the tool we’ve developed and share a bit the stories of who hides behind those magic lines of code.
Today we discussed with Franck, the very last person who joined the team, in order to know more about him and ask him why he decided to join Yotako. Franck is in charge of mobile development here at Yotako and his curious about technologies, music and snowboarding. But enough of voice-over narration, let’s pass him the mic. and let him share his story.
Franck on his first day at Yotako
Franck, could you tell us what was your first experience with computing?
I am into computers for a while now. If I remember well my first line of code was with an Amstrad CPC 6128 Plus around 1998. I was 8 years old and I was using lines of code in order to launch my video games at that time. One day my grand-father offered me a book with tutorials and explanations on how to code. It was a real breakthrough! Even though my first code creation was a random circle on a monitor, it was actually the beginning of a passion that changed my life for real.
My good old Amstrad CPC 6128 Plus
As a teenager I kept on mixing coding and video games. At that time I loved to create new quests for my favorite games, like doing mods for the game The Elder Scroll III: Morrowind for those who remember it.
Then came the time of college and, after a quick experience in a Faculty of Litteratures, I get selected for Ecole 42 very first edition in 2013 in Paris (France). I could finally dedicate time on what I loved to do: coding. Even though I was having a great time, I decided to leave Paris for another college (Epitech) in order to get closer to my relatives.
Did you enjoy your time in college?
I loved it! I rapidly discovered there were something I liked even more than video games programming: mobile apps development. I started developing apps with Objective-C and then with Swift when it released back in June 2014.
In college I also had my first experience with the startup world. With 2 friends of mine we took part in the Morpheus Cup contest with an app project and get rewarded. After that we decided to go from project to execution and created a startup called Marcel App.
What did you learn with your startup that still helps you today as a developer?
Organization is key
In a few weeks I went from being a student, and occasionally an intern, to managing a team of interns so it taught me to organize myself in order to work with a team. At that time we weren’t even in the same country as I lived in the US, so being well organized was crucial.
Don’t be afraid to ask
I quickly learned that asking for help wasn’t a weakness and that I needed to be humble if I wanted to improve my dev skills.
Think twice before selecting technologies
Sincerely, when I think about all the time we wasted because of rushed back-end choices, by making better choices we would have saved weeks of work.
You need to enjoy yourself
To be productive I discovered I have to work on something I would do equally if it were a side-project or a hobby, something I’m passionate about. Like at Yotako for instance.
Now that you mention it, why you decided to join a startup like Yotako?
First of all for the project. When me and my friends decided to close our startup and move to next challenges, I pictured myself working at a company with a vision I’m convinced about, and developing a product I would love to use myself as a mobile developer. I’m thrilled about what we are doing here: making something as complex as front-end development easier is a wonderful mission.
Secondly, the opportunity to improve my skills in JavaScript while exploring new aspects of iOS and Android in the same time was really appealing. At Yotako I can improve such skills and work on great architecture challenges. Of course dealing with many challenges is not easy everyday, but that’s what makes me wake up willing to get back to work every morning.
Finally, I have to say the flexibility offered to the team members was a major argument to me. Like the free choice of operating system, what a relief! On top of that we plan to open-source our work soon which is something important to me. I’m really grateful for what I received from the community and I’m looking forward to give something in return.
Oh, and because of the free coffee as well!
Could you tell us what are you working on since you joined?
I’m currently developing modules to make Yotako technologies compatible with the most popular mobile programming languages. I can’t really go into details now but you will tell me what you think of it shortly.
A big thanks to Franck! Looking forward to show his first achievements to our community!
In future posts we will continue our serie on Yotako’s got talent with Simon, the very first person who joined the team with the founders.
Should you have any question, just post a comment, Franck will be delighted to answer it.
If you are interested in joining us, please feel free to reach us at hireme@yotako.io
Happy coding!
The team at Yotako