A company is made up of people from a wide variety of fields. There are people who promote and sell products and services at the point of contact with consumers, but there are also people who research new technologies and think about user convenience in places that aren't visible. As you probably already know, the websites and applications, operating systems (OS), and various S/W programs that we use so easily were built on the efforts of countless developers. So we met one in person. The subject of today's interview is an LG CNS developer, Assistant Manager Ahn Young-seon.
Assistant Manager Ahn Young-seon, LG CNS Business Information Team
A business major who became a developer, learning to code after joining the company
Assistant Manager Ahn Young-seon has a somewhat unusual background. While most developers come from engineering schools, he majored in business administration during his undergraduate years. He also double-majored in history and was active in a literature club, which somehow makes him seem even further removed from computers and program coding. How did someone like him become a developer? We started by asking him that very reason.
I understand you majored in business administration during your undergraduate years. How did you come to choose the path of a developer? What aspect of development work appealed to you?
"I've loved computers since I was young. To be precise, games. Back when I was a kid, running a single game on a computer required a lot of work(?), and I found this process fun.
I also enjoyed creating new things through programming. Even in college, in between reading my major's textbooks or history books, I steadily read technology-related books as well.
I like things that are logical, simple, and clear. On the other hand, many things in the world exist within complex and subtle relationships that are hard to explain logically. I feel a thrill when I bring order to this complex subtlety. This virtue is probably something many developers aspire to as well. In this respect, I thought the path of a developer suited me well."
With company colleagues
If you couldn't code from the start, isn't it difficult to even get hired into a developer role?
"Since LG CNS has entered a wide variety of industries, it needs people from a wide variety of fields. So when the company hired me, it may have judged me suitable for a role other than development—say, as an accounting specialist or a project
manager. After all, I'm a business administration graduate, and when I applied, I applied for the ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning) field, which is a familiar concept in business administration. The first system I was assigned to after joining was also
LG Electronics' management accounting system. But as I worked, I came to think that to leverage my expertise at LG CNS, an IT company, I should focus more on the development side,
so I voluntarily moved deeper into the developer role on my own."
It's fascinating that you can work as a developer without having majored in computer science. Wasn't it hard while working?
"Did you know that when developers get stuck while working, googling solves it? Developers commonly share a psychology of wanting to 'show off(?)' the results they've created. So when they
derive a solution to a problem, publishing that process online has become a kind of culture among developers. And doing this also helps raise one's own value. Whenever I got stuck while coding, I learned a lot by looking at source code published
on the internet.
Because I know my own shortcomings well, whenever I have time I study on my own, digging through online lectures, books, and online sites. To become a developer, even without majoring in computer science, you need to basically have the skill and effort to be able to learn coding through self-study."
A developer's work is 'solving puzzles'
What's different about people who do development work compared to people in ordinary roles?
"Most developers are always working in their heads even in daily life. Making a program is building a system of logic. But as you build logic like this, there are times you get stuck. How can I
solve this? I'm always thinking about it. I think about it while sleeping, while showering after waking up in the morning, in the bathroom…. The work never leaves my head."
Working that way, isn't it hard to maintain work-life balance? It seems you'd have to make a deliberate effort not to think about work.
"I like it. (laughs) You can think of it as working with the feeling of solving a puzzle." (And if you can't solve it?) "A puzzle is bound to
be solved eventually. Development work is a process of endlessly searching for clues. Through clues and reasoning, you keep looking for a method until it's solved. People who aren't developers might find it hard to understand, but any developer would relate to what I'm
saying."
Climbing the Himalayas alone (left). He had to come back down after reaching base camp due to altitude sickness.
Marathon running (right), which he enjoys as a regular hobby. He ran so much that he injured his knee to the point of being unable
to use it.
Assistant Manager Ahn Young-seon likes pushing himself to the extreme. Heading off to Nepal without a plan in his mid-twenties to climb the Himalayas was also entirely his own way of testing his limits. Marathon running, which he enjoys as a regular hobby, is one of those challenges that pushes him to the extreme too. He says he feels exhilaration when, at the moment his breath catches in his throat, he gathers his remaining strength and pushes forward faster, and he says development work is no different from this. The act of more fiercely searching for a solution when faced with a problem— perhaps that's why he said development work suits him well.
There's a stereotypical image that the profession of developer carries. As often appears in TV dramas, it brings to mind a nerd or a single-minded person who digs deep into just one field. What do you think about this
way of looking at developers?
"I think that side definitely exists within me too. And I deliberately try to draw it out at times. I don't see those traits as merely peculiar or bad. Rather, I think they often help when it comes to solving problems or producing
work-related results.
I have only two hobbies, reading and exercise. Honestly, I live a somewhat boring life. As for exercise, I like marathon running, working out at the gym, and gymnastics, but when you think about it, they're all activities done alone. Many developers have this kind of disposition. Things like immersion, persistence, digging deep, perfectionism. This may look frustrating, but it's true that these traits help in fiercely fighting invisible problems."
A developer doesn't necessarily do only development work. Assistant Manager Ahn Young-seon once even worked as an in-house broadcast announcer.
When do you feel the most stress while working?
"I feel stress with things like a customer's sudden change in requirements, unreasonable demands, or when I take over a predecessor's code and it's all jumbled up and a mess. We call this kind of code 'spaghetti code,'
because it's tangled like spaghetti. And because you're pressed for time, there are cases where you have to complete a project in an unsatisfactory state, thinking 'this isn't right.' That's when I feel a lot of stress."
When work and daily life are barely separated, there are probably 'occupational habits' that arise from work. What's your occupational habit, Assistant Manager?
"I analyze everything. Even when developers have lunch together, we all analyze a particular app together. A topic we often talk about among ourselves lately is 'dating apps.' We speculate about exactly what logic
the matching is done with."
The elegant world he dreams of
Starting this year, Assistant Manager Ahn Young-seon has been building a system in LG CNS's Business Information Team to manage the various projects the company is carrying out. Until last year he was developing a management accounting system at a client company, and wanting to focus more on development work, he returned to headquarters after three years. It's a bit better now, but up until last year he had never gotten to rest during holidays and had to work through weekend nights at least once a month. Behind the system server maintenance—primarily done during holidays and weekends for the convenience of customers—lay these labors of developers.
Developers are known for working a lot of overtime, with a heavier workload than other roles.
"Work-life balance doesn't seem to mean much to a developer. I, too, don't prefer working overtime because of irrational decisions or inefficient work processes. But to work as a developer, first,
you have to stick with a problem until it's solved, and second, you have to keep studying to acquire skills. In this field, new technologies emerge every single day."
A project is a series of 'Infinite Challenges.' Celebrating the stroke of midnight with colleagues.
Then what would be the most necessary quality or mindset for a developer?
"Pride. Programming is about building one complete system of logic, right? Like the 'old craftsman who carves mallets' (a well-known Korean essay about an artisan who refuses to compromise on his work),
you have to have the pride and craftsmanship of someone who makes things. To have pride, I think you also need perfectionism. Of course, realistically it's hard to maintain such a mindset, but I think you have to fundamentally have this kind of mentality to be able to cope with the various
variables that arise from time to time."
A system created with pride and craftsmanship… What kind of result do you pursue, Assistant Manager Ahn Young-seon?
"I'd like the systems I make to be elegant. (An elegant system?) It means making the logic concise yet efficient, equipped with only what's needed—nothing more to add or
remove—while still running well enough. So that even when others look at it, there's nothing left to touch. Meanwhile, I myself don't seem to be an elegantly and efficiently running system. (laughs) So
I have a lot on my mind."
'Knowing who I am' comes first
Are there advantages and disadvantages to being a developer at LG CNS?
"There aren't many companies that can wait until a new employee learns and masters things on their own. LG CNS gave me, a new employee, the opportunity to figure out work and learn on my own. Just three days after new employee training ended,
I was immediately put on my first project. It was a project to merge two business divisions into one, but I had absolutely no idea what to do or how to do it. When I asked the person who gave me the work, 'What should I do?', they said, 'I don't
know either. For now, give it a try yourself.' If it had been a small company, they probably wouldn't have entrusted such work to a new employee in the first place. I stuck with it for about two weeks and ultimately pulled it off. If it had been a small
startup or a small company, it probably would have been hard for them to wait a certain period even when results weren't coming out.
And because it's a large company, you can encounter a wide variety of work. There are many kinds of development fields too. Architect, server, database, and so on… It's also nice that you can work with a system in place, since people from various fields gather to work. Having many opportunities to carry out large-scale projects is another advantage. Of course, it's a bit of a shame that, being a large company, it prefers already-proven technologies over new attempts or trendy technologies on the technical side, but when you consider the stability of the service, it's understandable."
Assistant Manager Ahn Young-seon's desk. Since he sits at his desk for long hours, he prefers ergonomic tools.
If there's something you'd like to say to junior colleagues who dream of becoming developers?
"Setting developers aside, I'd like to tell juniors preparing for employment to be sure to take time to reflect on themselves before finding a job. If you know what kind of person you are, what kind of work makes you happy,
and what work you do best, you'll set a clear goal, and no matter how hard the employment process is, you'll be able to overcome it well. Especially to friends who dream of becoming developers, I really want to tell them that they have to study a lot, that they shouldn't be content with the
present and must keep studying."
How much resolve should friends who want to become developers have when they start out regarding this part?
"They absolutely must. If you don't intend to study endlessly, it will be hard to succeed as a developer."
If you have goals you'd like to achieve in your work and personal life going forward, please share them.
"If I have the ability and the opportunity, I want to keep doing development work even as I get older. To do that, I'll need to have technically excellent capabilities. That's why I'm still studying now and intend to
keep doing so. Personally, I want to become a slightly better person each and every day. In every aspect—character, learning, and knowledge."
"If you want to become a developer, you have to be prepared to study for life." This is Assistant Manager Ahn Young-seon's advice for junior colleagues.
Judging only by his non-development major and his various experiences challenging the extreme, it's true that at first I imagined the image of a 'developer who doesn't seem like a developer.' But the image Assistant Manager Ahn Young-seon showed throughout the interview was one that—to the point you could call it the 'prototype (archetype) of a developer'—held deep passion, pride, and a will for self-improvement in this field.
At various points during the interview, he called himself 'a person with many shortcomings and deficiencies.' Like his advice that you must 'look deeply into yourself' before choosing a profession, this too is likely a realization that came after countless deliberations and reflections. I don't know whether it's a misfortune or a blessing, but Assistant Manager Ahn Young-seon will always be hungry and never content with the present going forward. The more so, the closer the 'elegant world' he creates will come to us.
Leave a comment