Ruidy Nemausat, Principal Engineer at exmox, discusses his unique career path and offers advice to those wanting to work in software engineering.
Ruidy joined exmox’s tech team in September 2020 as a mid-level engineer. Now the Principal Engineer at exmox, Ruidy plays a valuable role in exmox’s success now and in the future.
While Ruidy has lived in Hamburg for seven years, he is originally from Guadaloupe. After growing up in the Caribbean, he moved to Paris to study physics at Sorbonne University where he then continued his education and earned a Ph.D. After working in academic research, he made the switch to software engineering.
Read on to find out more about the transition from academia to the startup tech industry, how he spends his work days, favorite projects, and advice he’d give to those wanting to work in the industry.
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Q: What exactly does a Principal Engineer do?
A: It’s a technical leadership position. Right now, I’m leading the engineering team’s work on our apps. I’m also working with the team on our new data infrastructures, so we can get more insights about how our apps perform. To keep it simple: We are busy building the basis for the technology at exmox for the next 10 years.
Q: Could you talk a little bit more about why and how you joined this industry, specifically how you transitioned after getting your Ph.D. in Physics?
A: I actually just did physics because I’m really interested in understanding how things work. That interest will never change. And I always loved computers. But I moved away from academia mostly because in research, it can be slow-paced. It’s really interesting, it’s intellectually rewarding, but you’re kind of doing things in your corner and hoping that someday it might have an impact on its real users. It became frustrating. So that was the main motivation, especially considering that now, I can work on building software that impacts millions of users on a daily basis. That’s actually really exciting.
Q: How did you discover and join exmox?
A: I joined exmox as a mid-level engineer. I was writing code all day long, which I really loved doing and it was great. Then my role shifted a little more into some leadership aspects, but really taking care of project management and ensuring that we are building the product right. There is a lot of software architecture, as I said, to ensure that what we’re building can sustain our growth, with not only the amount of users we have this year but also in five years so we won’t have to rebuild. My role now also has me working with a larger team. That’s actually really rewarding, because I mean, we hired really great people. They’re really smart. We learn a lot from each other which is something I really appreciate.
It is really rewarding to work together with such a nice and smart team, not only my direct team members but also the synergies we have with the product team and data analysts.
Q: What does a typical day look like for a Principal Engineer?
A: It starts with breakfast. But actually because of that social time in the mornings. It’s one of the only times in my day where I interact with people outside of the tech department. While I still love to code, it’s mostly a hobby now, so my day will be filled with a lot of planning, thinking about the next thing we need to build, and translating our needs from a product perspective. I also collaborate a lot with product leadership to translate the product needs into technical blocks, so the team can then focus on a well-defined task. And that’s really that. I really grew into my role.
Q: What do you think makes exmox special?
A: It sounds a little cliche, but it’s the people. Management did a good job hiring really nice people. It’s not easy, especially considering the growth of the company. When I started, we were at 20. Now we are at almost 60. So the company tripled, but it doesn’t feel like that. It feels like we still have this cohesion in the company, and lots of smart people coming from all over the world.
I think this diverse group of smart people that can work together and learn from each other is what makes exmox special.
There is also the autonomy I have. While there are of course guidelines of objectives and goals, we can pick the technologies we want to work with and build the things in a way we want to. On a daily basis, I have a lot of freedom. I really feel like exmox is a company where I get to grow a lot.
Q: If you could give advice to someone wanting to start in software engineering, what would you say?
A: Learn to code. When you start, I think it’s normal and actually quite important to try different things. Try to program web apps, video games, do some machine learning, some AI – especially right now. And you’ll find something that clicks, and then you need to become an expert. If you really want to be that person with breadth but also can go deep into one topic, you need to understand how it works. It’s also important to be an expert in one thing because you will have more engagement with your mentor, you can have really deep conversations, and you’re more interesting. And also you have more fun. You can focus on working with the thing instead of struggling to configure it and just keep it alive. Find something you like, then go deep.
It will help you a lot in your career to be the person who understands how things work under the hood, and why it breaks – because it always breaks at 2am and you have to be ready.
