Alan Kan
Alan relocated from Hong Kong to Wollongong during the lockdown. Here he talks us through his journey to joining FinoComp, his first impressions of the business and… Kubernetes!
The journey to joining the business was certainly eventful. With travel very much restricted we bought our airline tickets to Sydney four months in advance, even then it was not easy gaining entry to Australia. The country at the time (and still now) has strict entry requirements with a limited quota for how many sponsored workers (like me) they would allow in. Fortunately, we had all our required paperwork (Leanne at FinoComp had been incredibly helpful getting this sorted for us) and we were ready to go. Our flight to Sydney however was amended by the airline to be a flight to Melbourne instead! Once here, and due to the outbreak and lockdown that Melbourne was experiencing we were required to do extra compulsory quarantine in our apartment.
Having arrived in the country on the 27th January, by late February I was settled in and ready to start with the business.
For me this was the first time I had been out of my country, having always worked in Hong Kong. I was attracted by the western culture, the opportunity to work in another country and the exciting role offered at FinoComp. The job spec was a perfect match to my skill set and experience. I liked the fact there was a huge focus on quality of delivery, drilling down to ask more “why” questions instead of “what” questions. They also provided me with a surprise welcome pack full of Australian goodies, my favourite of which was the vegemite spread!
As a software engineer my background and experience is in Kubernetes . Kubernetes is the software used to manage and orchestrate microservices. It provides a consistent way to ensure the microsesrvices are working as expected. With FinoComp being at the forefront of development and deployment of microservices in the wealth management world, I was excited to be part of the team working with them on this.
Microservices architecture offers scalability and resiliency. It delivers specific pieces of functionality in component parts. In order to work efficiently, or to work at all, you need to have a consistent and automated way to manage their lifecycles. Having Kubernetes is like sustainable growth when trying to extend your application.
As well as working at the forefront of financial services technology what I really like about the business is the respect that they have for staff, we are allowed to do something makes sense for us and for the company – working from home. I am not required to come to the office for x% of time, but instead, the business is full very dynamic people working in different places in that way I feel FinoComp take care of our feelings, providing flexibility but ensuring that dynamic communication is not sacrificed.
I enjoy the work /life balance that my new job provides and like the weather and the beach here in Australia. This for me has been an extraordinary experience, having never worked in other country, the people at FinoComp have incredibly supportive, helping me to understand the culture and country of Australia better. Whilst I have been very much focusing on work and settling in, I am now keen to get out and discover more about what the country and has to offer.
What is Kubernetes?
Kubernetes (also known as K8s with the number eight representing the number of letters between the “K” and the “s”) is an open source system to deploy, scale, and manage containerized applications anywhere.
Ref Google Learn.
