Hello! Today, we interviewed Shinya Okouchi (nicknamed: Ino-chan), an engineer and product manager at ERAKE.

Mr. Okouchi chose ERAKE as the second company in his career, and he is now a promising hope who plays a central role as a product manager.

We discussed the circumstances that led Mr. Okouchi to aspire to be an engineer and why he chose ERAKE.
Additionally, he shared his future career vision. Please take a look!

ーーFirst, please give us a brief self-introduction!

I am Shinya Okouchi, also known as Ino-chan. At ERAKE, I am mainly responsible for the design and development of products as a product manager. I was born in Amagasaki and I am 25 years old!

If I were to describe my personality in one word, it would be "positive." I have always thought positively and enjoy challenging myself, to the point where I can't be satisfied unless I try something. During my university days, I started learning programming unrelated to my classes and joined ERAKE, which has truly been a series of challenges.

ーーA life themed around challenges is wonderful! You mentioned that you started learning programming in university; what made you want to learn programming?

During my university entrance exam preparation, I felt that web knowledge would be essential in the coming era, and I vaguely developed an interest in programming. Actually, I originally loved cars and aimed for mechanical engineering, but I changed my preference to the computer science department at the last moment. (laughs)

When I took programming classes at university, it was a bit different from what I had imagined, which was somewhat confusing. However, I had a strong desire to create services, which prompted me to start learning programming aside from the classes.

The classes focused on executing code and getting results, and to be honest, it didn’t feel very interesting. However, that experience motivated me to learn programming to create services.

ーーThe desire to create services opened the path to becoming an engineer! During your job search, what specific services did you want to create when choosing companies?

During my job search, I prioritized whether I could work on products or services that users would actually use, rather than the size of the company. I wanted to be involved in product development that many people could directly engage with, rather than working on backend systems like infrastructure.

However, due to my lack of internship experience, I was often judged as lacking in technical skills, making the job search quite difficult. Despite that, I was fortunate to join an SIer (System Integrator) as a new graduate.

ーーIt was important for you that the products you created reached users! What kind of products were you involved in developing at your previous job?

My career as an engineer started with product development as a mobile engineer for Android. Honestly, I initially wanted to gain experience as a web engineer, and before starting development, I wondered, "Why mobile development?"

However, my motivation to program was rooted in my desire to see the code I wrote functioning on a screen and being offered as a service, and once I actually started, I found it incredibly fun!

As I gained experience as an engineer, my career aspirations became clearer. Technical skills are, of course, important, but I also wanted to be a bridge between business and development, leading teams and managing projects. Specifically, I would like to acquire the ability to do accurate estimates and judgments in people management and product management, as well as development.

ーーYou’ve solidified your vision of the engineer you aspire to be at an early stage and are building your career towards that! What was the process that led you to choose ERAKE as your second company?

I gradually became able to develop for Android, but in the SIer environment, I felt the frustration of not being able to immediately reflect user feedback. At that time, I consulted with my friend from elementary school, Morita (nickname: Moropy), who had joined ERAKE at that time.

Listening to the story about ERAKE, I was attracted by the fact that they offer the new technology of eSIM through an app and was amazed by the high design quality of the Torifa app. However, I thought there were still many areas that needed to be developed functionally, and I felt I could contribute to the growth of the product. The company was also at a phase of significantly growing a new product, which excited me. I joined ERAKE through a referral and began working on the development of Torifa.

ーーIt's admirable to have the ambition that you could make the product better! (laughs)
What tasks did you mainly handle once you joined ERAKE?

Thank you! Initially, I aimed to be active as a mobile engineer at ERAKE, but ultimately, I took on the main responsibility for backend development. Right after joining, I had the opportunity to experience a wide range of areas, including mobile, backend, and infrastructure, which allowed me to deeply understand the entire development framework.

Leveraging the management experience I gained at my previous SIer job, I am currently involved in improving the features of Torifa and planning new features as a product manager. In particular, when I am able to develop new features based on user feedback that contribute to improving store ratings and increasing sales, I feel a great sense of fulfillment. It has become a major motivator that I can directly see the product reaching users and feel their reactions, continuously improving the product!

ーーUtilizing user feedback to grow the product is a major attraction of working at ERAKE, isn't it? What are your goals that you would like to achieve at ERAKE in the future?

I have two major goals. One is to become an engineer deeply involved in management. In the future, I want to collaborate with new team members to refine my skills while actively sharing opinions on aspects that directly impact user experiences, such as product specifications and sales, from an engineer's perspective.

The other goal is to strengthen the development team and contribute to the overall growth of the organization. I aim to create a system where the development team can share mid- to long-term goals in a bottom-up manner across the organization. To achieve that, I want to nurture personnel who can take on the tasks I am currently responsible for and continue challenging myself with new things.

I am looking for colleagues who are passionate about Torifa and eager to improve the product. Currently, there are few engineers compared to the scale of our service, so if you have the enthusiasm to create the best service in the world with us, please knock on the door of ERAKE! Let's create a new era together!