Let's meet Melanie, Full Stack Developer

Can you introduce yourself?

I’m Melanie, 26 years old, full-stack developer at Welii. After finishing my bachelors degree in computer science in the US, I very much wanted to move to another country. I decided I want to try living in France as it’s completely unfamiliar and different from the countries I’ve lived in. It seemed like an interesting challenge. 

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Can you tell us how you got to WELII? 

I found that the most optimal way for me to move to France is to get a French masters degree and then get a job. So I came to Toulouse and started a master's degree in September 2020, searched for an internship for summer 2021 to gain local industry experience, found Welii, and stayed since then. 

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What is a full stack developer?

Full stack refers to the entire depth of a computer application. A Full stack developer codes and builds both front and the back of an application, front referring to everything the user sees and interacts with, the back referring to servers, databases, and other internal architecture that drives the application. 

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What is your greatest achievement?

I think it’s pretty cool that I got to experience being the first ever employee of a company ! (But I guess I can’t really call that my “réussite” and more like chance). When I first arrived at Welii, our product was just a few white pages with some text. After several months of coding and figuring out solutions with the guidance of Jean-Guillaume, now there is an app that people use! (If you were a student in computer science and had to build some app, you know how I feel).

But honestly for me, it was already a big enough personal réussite that I got a job in France at all which enables me to experience life in France. So the fact that Welii gives me the opportunity to actually carry out such interesting and impactful work is more of a blessing that I’m grateful for than a réussite. 

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What is it like to work at Welii on a daily basis?

The energy is chill, the work is challenging and satisfying, and the people are hardworking and encouraging.

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What would you like to see at WELII in 2022?

I wish for more features, more clients, more international people on the team, and more raclette. 

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Tell us a funny story about you?

When I was 10, my family and I were on a trip to the US west coast (we were living in Seoul at the time). One night in Las Vegas, we were at the Bellagio fountain show, insanely crowded, and I lost my parents because after a silly argument with my little sister, I got mad and started walking away from my family through the crowd. When the show was over, the entire massive crowd flooded out the venue.

I didn’t speak much English at the time so objectively, it was a pretty scary situation being a 10 year old foreign girl lost in Vegas at night (imagine my poor parents), but eventually I was reunited with my parents after like an hour. Honestly I think this is the moment I discovered how much I enjoy the adrenaline rush of being lost alone in an unfamiliar country where you don’t speak the language and being in intense survival mode to figure stuff out. Since then, I’ve taken off by myself several times for the same kind of experience, and it’s probably partly why I ended up in France. 

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What would you say to a candidate to convince them to join WELII?

International community, fun parties, your work holds substantial weight in the success of the company, work from wherever in the world you want.