Today, I interviewed Yujiro Shirata (nicknamed: Moropy), an engineer who supports ERAKE's products.

Moropy is a high-potential talent who joined a startup as a second new graduate. Currently, he has started taking on the role of a product manager, and he is a member with significant growth over the past year.

He talked about why he joined ERAKE and his career plans.
Please have a look!

ーーFirst, please introduce yourself briefly.

I am Yujiro Shirata. I am from Amagasaki City in Hyogo Prefecture, and I am 24 years old. I joined ERAKE almost straight out of university.
I had been doing internships since my university days and had been working in development there.

ーーWhy did you do an internship during university?

I did an internship because I wanted to improve my skills as an engineer. During my time as a rōnin (student who failed entrance exams), I thought, "What do I really want to do?"
At that time, I happened to watch the movie "The Social Network."
Seeing a student create a service that many people could use with just one PC made me vaguely want to become like that! I wanted to acquire various skills, from the technology to create impactful services in the world to the marketing and sales skills necessary to deliver those services properly, and I thought I should first improve my technical skills as an engineer, just like Mark Zuckerberg did.

So, I decided to pursue a degree in computer science at university.

ーーYou chose your university and department with a clear goal and looked for internships, didn't you? How did you enhance your practical experience?

Actually, there weren't as many startups and venture companies around my university as in Tokyo, and there was no company willing to hire me, who had no achievements since enrolling.
Therefore, I first joined a programming school and honed my skills through self-study while approaching many companies to seize opportunities.

I could really engage in internships around my third year of university.
My first job as an engineer involved building an in-house system. I first worked on front-end development for the management screen.
I remember realizing that nothing beats practical experience.
I was developing in modern languages like Typescript and React, which I had previously only learned theoretically.
However, when developing on a project, I experienced firsthand how inefficient my previous learning time had been. I faced walls I couldn't overcome, prompting me to seek help, and I remember the clear improvement in my technical skills.

ーーSince you had prior knowledge, it stuck quickly, didn't it?

It seems that way. However, I was able to develop comprehensively within three months regarding front-end work, and I began to expand my experience towards back-end work as well.

Additionally, I got involved in several projects from other companies as well. During that process, I was pleased to feel that I was gradually moving from a stage where I developed based on designed specifications to a stage where I could start to design them myself. I also had the feeling that my level was rapidly increasing.

ーーThat’s impressive growth speed. Did you start as an engineer in the workforce?

To reach my goal of "creating services used by many people in the world" as quickly as possible, I focused on raising my engineering skills during my job search.
I joined a company that provided packages for EC sites, which were popular at the time.

The product itself started to be adopted by a large number of companies, and I was thrilled to be part of an impactful service.
However, this also made me realize that I needed to consider the impact on clients and customers viewing that EC site caused by changes in the product.
Because even changing the text of a single button requires a submission, right?
I felt that if this continued, it would be a detour towards enhancing my engineering skills, which is my goal, so I resigned four months after joining.

ーーYou have the ability to decide when a means to achieve your goal is unreasonable... that's amazing. Did you decide to transfer to ERAKE quickly?

In my mind, it felt like I had struggled for four months, though.
During my job change activities, I proceeded with selections from multiple companies, and that’s where I met ERAKE. I was actually a bit hesitant about transferring to ERAKE (laughs). I was also in the later stages of selection with UZABASE.

In the end, when I honestly conveyed this situation to ERAKE's representative, Kaname, for some reason, Kaname, Nagai, and I ended up having pizza together.
At that time, I felt that Kaname's perspective on engineering was similar to that of an engineer I respected during my university days. Since I wanted to have a mentor to improve my engineering skills, I decided to follow him!

ーーAfter joining, was there a gap between your expectations and reality?

I was given more responsibility than I expected (laughs). Not long after joining, I was entrusted with the enhancement of "dollar settlement" for inbound users.

I expected to engage in significant development, but I was suddenly tasked with an important payment aspect within the system. To be honest, it was an area where I lacked experience and had some anxieties, but since I was entrusted with it, I felt a sense of responsibility and engaged in designing the functionality.

In the design phase, I had some immature aspects, and Kaname thoroughly drilled into me the concept of "development to meet business requirements."
What’s impressive about Kaname is that he doesn’t just give answers from the start; he guides my thought process before entrusting me with the design and actual development. Honestly, it would have been easier for me to be told the answers from the beginning, and development would have progressed faster, but by allowing me to take control of the development until the last moment, I believe I was able to grow as an engineer.

As a result, I was able to release dollar settlement after a month. Above all, I was delighted to feel my own growth.

ーーYou focused on both the result and the process. What other challenging projects have you worked on?

Every day, I face challenges beyond my capabilities (laughs). Recently, it would be the server migration project.

Initially, Kaname was developing on Google Cloud Platform's Cloud Function.

However, due to a sudden increase in service users, it became necessary to anticipate the future and migrate the server for stable service provision.

Actually, I had experience as a front-end and back-end engineer, but I had no experience as an infrastructure engineer (laughs).

Additionally, the development structure was different from the dollar settlement, and the development involved several infrastructure and mobile engineers, adding more elements to consider in how to proceed with the development, which was somewhat troubling.

ーーHow did you proceed with the project?

With the premise of "development to realize business requirements,"
I organized the business requirements, such as:
- how to migrate the server without stopping it
- ensuring a comfortable service experience for users (like communication speed)
- designing the server's durability under load.
While sorting these business requirements, I began the requirement definition and system design.

Here too, I repeatedly consulted with Kaname to decide on these aspects.
Also, to acquire my knowledge as an infrastructure engineer, I studied on my days off and even tried making a simple application.

As a result, I was able to complete the server migration in just under three months.

ーーYou successfully involved your colleagues and raised your skills while completing the task.

Our company's value is "With Crew," which emphasizes working together with colleagues (laughs).
There were many challenges, but more than that, I was happy to see my capabilities expand. It is indeed enjoyable to be at ERAKE because there are many moments to feel my growth. Recently, we have also seen an increase in mid-level engineers, and the knowledge I learn from my colleagues is extremely valuable. I can't afford to lose my edge.

ーーWhat kind of development experience do you want to gain at ERAKE in the future?

I want to gain development experience that aligns with the growth of the service.
I think it’s rare to have such fast growth service up to this point, and there are so many developments to handle. We cannot allow situations where we inconvenience customers due to a lag in scaling; therefore, I am working on development with a sense of tension every day.

However, I believe this is the right place to enhance my engineering abilities, as I am acquiring experiences here at a pace multiple times faster than usual, which would normally take several years at other companies.

ーーWhat kind of people do you want to join ERAKE?

I think people who are ambitious about their personal growth or have ambitions would fit well.
After all, the daily challenges are unprecedented.
I want to work with people who are responsible and are willing to tackle these challenges to expand their engineering skills.

First, I would be happy if you could casually reach out to talk, so I would appreciate it if you could press "I want to hear more."u001a