Denis 🥥 is promoted to back-end tech lead!

27 Apr 20

Denis is a strategy game and fantasy fiction fan. He builds small internet gadgets that might take over the world. He has certainly taken over our world here at CookiesHQ which is why we have promoted him to tech lead!

Back in 2015, we attended an employer fair. Little did we know (which shows our level of preparation for the fair) we were sitting with the likes of Microsoft and HP to attract university graduates. We came away with two things that day: The note to invest in a roller banner or two, and Denis’s email address. Denis was a bright student, full of enthusiasm and the co-founder of Missionly.

When his company wound down, Denis joined CookiesHQ as a junior full stack developer on a part-time basis. This allowed him to finish his university degree whilst he worked for us.

Since joining CookiesHQ, he has worked on dozens of projects, building his confidence and tech knowledge. He has been fantastic at mentoring and training all of the junior developers that have joined us since. His skills at mentoring and teaching have led him to do many talks at places such as LRUG and the Ruby conference in Nairobi.

In his new role, Denis will not only lead the projects but also be responsible for planning them from a technical point of view, i.e. designing the infrastructure and ensuring that the plan is well communicated to, followed on and delivered by the other developers. He will also start participating in our discovery sessions as the lead tech role, alleviating responsibilities of our CTO Nic.

Denis’s Q&A

How did you first get involved with Cookies?

Whilst at an event with a start-up I was involved with, I met Nic and discussed all the cool projects CookiesHQ were working on. So when things didn’t go right with the startup, I got in touch with Nic to see if I could be a part of the cool things happening at CookiesHQ at the time.

Is there a standout moment in your time with Cookies so far?

It’s hard to pick just one:

Cookies sponsoring me to speak at events (Solidusconf 2017, and Nairuby 2019)
Going to events
Team bonding activities, celebrating deploys and hard work

What’s the part of the CookiesHQ culture that you have helped develop?

I’m not sure really, I hope it’s a friendly and inclusive atmosphere! And more specific to my role, I’ve helped to create our various development practices, experiment and integrate new software.

How is your new role different from your last?

I’m involved in projects a lot earlier on, this involves:

Taking part in discovery sessions where I will lead the tech side, sell the team and the process to the client
Helping to produce technical proposals for new projects, including costings
Sharing the plan with the rest of the team and ensure all the back-end developers are following the plan

What are your aims for 2020?

Embrace my new role fully
Travel a lot (Maybe I’ll put that on hold for now….)
Start writing blog posts again

Favourite flavoured cookie?

Coconut. Apart from chocolate, all other flavours are just wrong!

Nathalie Alpi

Managing Director

Spreadsheet lover and mum of three. Always planning the next holiday.

Denis’s Q&A

Nathalie Alpi

It all starts with a chat