By Leo Duffy & Filsane Haji

At VISFO we have a brilliant Tech team of engineers and developers working on a multitude of exciting projects from re-platforming work to developing web applications for searching digital opinion leaders. One of our Software Engineers, Leo Duffy is a full-stack engineer who joined VISFO in 2018 as one of the first members of the team. Leo has seen VISFO develop and progress over the years. We interviewed Leo about his experience as a VISFO software engineer and to give us some insight into a day in his life here.

1. What does a typical day as a VISFO software engineer look like?

This morning I started off with resolving a bug issue at the QA stage that was raised yesterday. We had a team stand-up and then I moved on to pairing work on a new image service with a colleague. Working at VISFO is a varied mix of working on my own and also with others. It’s not just logging on and coding all day.

2. Why did you decide to become one? What was your inspiration or did you have a role model?

After leaving university, I got a job in software sales and hated it. But through it, I got to speak to the people who made the software and I found their work really exciting. I quit and worked in a bar while doing some solo learning before joining a coding bootcamp. I didn’t have a role model, I just found working as an engineer satisfying. It provided a great sense of achievement; I could see tangible products of my work.

3. What was your journey to becoming a software engineer at VISFO? Previous experience?

After completing the coding bootcamp, I started my first role as a software engineer at VISFO in 2018. I’ve learned and developed myself and got to see VISFO grow as well.

4. What top 3 personal qualities are good fits for your team?

1. Sense of humour; our team can have a good laugh
2. Interest in technology, and our work goals
3. Empathy

5. What’s the best part of being an engineer at VISFO?

Working with interesting, bright people across the business.

6. Tell us what you enjoy about working within the healthcare / pharmaceutical space?

We have a diverse company, with experts in technology, medical consulting and more. So, we get to have a unique insight into the needs of our product end-users. I appreciate that we can address meaningful issues by working within the health and pharmaceutical space.

7. Sum up VISFO in 3 words?

Fun, different, challenging.

8. What do you work on in your VISFO L&D time, any exciting projects in the pipeline?

Many of our back-end services are written in Golang. For L&D, I’ve recently started an intro into Go programming language, which is different but enjoyable. There is also an optional team learning session on Friday afternoons.

9. What do you enjoy doing when you’re not working – any hobbies, favourite TV shows, music?

I enjoy playing basketball, and I DJ in my bedroom.

10. Biggest personal success to date – what are you most proud of accomplishing that’s not work related?

I was expelled from school at 13. I self-taught my GCSEs to get into college and continued on to university. I didn’t think I would ever get into university when I first left school, so I consider it a personal achievement.