Today we’re sharing a conversation we had with Francisco, a Data Engineer at Lovys, who agreed to share his experience as a tech professional, his journey that led him to where he is now and what it’s like to work at a company like Lovys.
For those (very few) who don’t know, Lovys is a French technology company for insurance that doesn’t like insurance. No, that wasn’t a typo. They’re a company that advocates for simple language, for the absence of asterisks and exceptions, and for reliable solutions. That’s why they’re the first all-in-one 100% digital insurance.
But shifting our focus on Francisco now, let him make the introductions:
Hello there! My name is Francisco Fonseca and I grew up in Porto , in the north of Portugal. I did my studies in Electrical and Computers Engineering in FEUP and I have been working as a Junior Data Engineer in Lovys for the last 9 months.
What does a typical workday for you look like?
Our day usually starts with a morning meeting with everyone from the Data Team (Data Engineers, R&D team and our Business Analyst) where we discuss the work to be done on that day or topics we have been working on.
Because Lovys is at a stage of hyper-growth, I end up tackling a wide variety of topics inside data engineering. Tasks can be: creating models that allow us to represent our business model or to measure/calculate relevant metrics, create dashboards based on the existing models, automate processes , data extraction, among others.
What would you say are the main struggles you experience at your job?
Working in a traditional sector with a tight legal framework makes it challenging to get a deep level of understanding on how to model our business reality.
Although challenging, the complexity turns the work and tasks into something interesting and fun.
What motivated you to work at Lovys and what is it about your job in the company that makes you want to work every day?
Because Lovys is scaling up and expanding its products portfolio and geographies very fast, I consider that my work is very stimulating. Particularly it motivates me to be in frequent contact with colleagues working in other teams, to always be in contact with new technologies and to learn concepts from different areas on a regular basis.
Also, I value the freedom to experiment and to have ownership over my developments which gives me the feeling that my work is important and useful.
Finally I appreciate the informal working environment, which creates a very welcoming space.
What skills do you think are essential to work as a Data Engineer? Also, tell us a bit about the path that led you to where you are now.
During university while studying Electrical Engineering, I had only one course which partially covered what I am working on today. While doing this course, it was clear to me that I wanted to learn more about Data Engineering and so it was very obvious and natural to apply for the Lovys position.
My definition of an outperformance Data engineer has changed since i started working. Initially, I believed that learning all the technical aspects would be it. But after some time at Lovys, I quickly understood that it’s crucial to combine both technical knowledge and business understanding. Also, it is relevant to have intuition at predicting all kinds of scenarios in order to build reliable ETL processes.
What advice would you give to someone who wants to pursue the same job as you, and become a Data Engineer?
Even not having yet many years of work experience , It is my strong belief that if you want to become a Data Engineer I would recommend finding a company that allows you to learn all the facets of the department instead of just focusing on very narrow projects. A company like Lovys.
Thank you Francisco for opening up to us and for sharing your personal experience!
Lovys is currently expanding their tech team and is hiring for several positions (developers and engineers, please come forward!). If you feel like working alongside Francisco, check out their job openings here, there are more than 15 available.
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