Opportunities Uncompromised: Journey From Intern to Tech Lead

This is an exclusive entry written by our Senior Software Engineer, Sharma Shunmugham, who was part of the Engineering team that brought the Curlec Payment Gateway to life. Read on to delve into his experience throughout the journey.

How it all started

My journey at Curlec began five years ago with an internship opportunity. It marked the start of not just my career but also my passion for fintech. As an intern, my main responsibility was creating a mobile integration application for both Android and iOS devices. This foundational stint allowed me to delve into the basics of payments and technology. And it sparked a deep interest and love for the field. After my internship, I was given the opportunity to transition to a full-time position. I grabbed the opportunity and never looked back. Who would have thought? An internship that would propel my career to build great things for the Malaysian payments industry!

From intern to team lead

A little more from my internship days, I worked mostly on simpler tasks; understanding the company, products, and technology behind it. It was basic yet essential to understand why and how individual components and modules function. Just like how Curlec develops its products, it begins with the fundamentals, followed by these imperative steps: 

1. Finding out the impact and importance a project will have on the business. What benefits and advantages will it garner? 
2. Identifying the exact changes and steps needed – this is what we term the Spike Document which exists as a guide.
3. When that’s ready, we go into Tech Specifications; which will reveal exactly what needs to be done, including end-to-end testing, closed environment testing, and building. 
4. Lastly, we deploy the product through Continuous Integration/Continuous Deployment. 

In hindsight, I now notice the many similarities between my career progression and how we take a product life. It all eventually leads to our defined goals. What do we see at the end of the finish line? For us at Curlec it’s to see our products solve all payment complexities of merchants. 

Gateway to my proudest achievement

I’ve had the opportunity to work on a project of great significance: the Curlec Payment Gateway. As the Southeast Asian arm of Razorpay, a fintech powerhouse in India, Curlec is equipped with the tools and knowledge to innovate better. That said, we get to replicate and adapt Razorpay’s successes in Malaysia.

Working closely with PayNet (Payments Network Malaysia), who owns the domestic payment rails, I was able to take full ownership, from start to finish, of bringing to life two payment methods within the payment gateway. Firstly, FPX (online banking) where it is now the leading payment method in success rates, followed closely by TNG Digital (eWallet). Additionally, the Payment Gateway can also manage up to 10,000 transactions per second with 99.999% system availability. Along with our compliance with Bank Negara Malaysia, I’ve worked on the payment gateway – to see it grow tremendously. 

Why Curlec?

It’s an exceptional workplace for engineers seeking a dynamic and impactful career in the fintech industry. With a commitment to innovation, meaningful projects, and a collaborative culture, we are empowered to thrive and make tangible contributions. During my internship days, I acquired new programming languages (AngularJS, HTML5, and CSS3) and I’ve also improved in JAVA, PHP, and mobile integrations like Cordova. It goes without saying, that the internship period was crucial as it played a significant role in my decision to progress in this field. However, and more importantly, it was also the supportive and collaborative environment that Curlec encouraged – which helped develop my skills while giving me the confidence to achieve more. 

In a nutshell, my journey from an intern to a team lead exemplifies the growth and opportunities available here. So if I have one parting message to convey, it’s to start from somewhere, anywhere, and if given the chance – take it by its horns and go forward with it!

Profile

I’m Sharma, a passionate Senior Software Engineer with 5 years of experience in software development. I thrive on solving complex problems, collaborating with diverse teams, and delivering innovative solutions that make a positive impact. I watch football matches and play futsal in my free time. I’m also very passionate about my favourite team; Arsenal. My hobbies include watching movies, listening to football podcasts, and listening to music.

If you’re keen to discover new opportunities – look no further. Check out our careers page or email your resume to hr@curlec.com.