He never used cloud tech before. Now, he can’t get enough of it

Nabil Amin didn’t have any experience with cloud tech when he first joined Kion, a Fulton-based company offering cloud enablement software. Now, he’s worked his way up from being a novice to getting promoted to junior engineer.

“Normally, QA automation engineers aren’t exposed to the code base,” he said. “But I was more exposed to it when I joined here. That helped me transition to the junior engineer role that I’m in now. Without that experience, I wouldn’t be where I am right now.”

Amin joined the company in January 2019 and earned his promotion in October 2020. At the time, the company was called cloudtamer.io. But in November 2021, it rebranded to become Kion in an effort to better represent the organization’s solution.

The new name combines two elements: The Greek capital letter, Kappa, signifies an open hand. And “ion” means an act or purpose.

The company was much smaller when Amin joined, giving him the chance to wear several hats and broaden his experiences with different technologies. Instead of strictly working on scripts, he was able to get his hands on DevOps assignments.

“I was new to the cloud space, but I was very excited because it sounded like a fun challenge,” Amin said. “I was worried my experience wouldn’t meet what they were looking for, but they were so helpful and I learned so much with everyone that was there at the beginning. And I continue to do so.”

Read more about Amin in this Q&A where he discusses adjusting to his new role, aspirations for his career, and his thoughts on the company’s rebranding.

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When you first heard about the rebrand, what did you think about it?

Once I started hearing what the mission was, what the goal was, and the purpose behind the rebranding, it made a lot of sense. It helps us stick out more amongst our competitors. It was just very exciting and was kind of a renewed sense of purpose about what we wanted to do and where we wanted to go.

How has your work changed going from a QA automation engineer to a junior engineer?

Now that I get to see both sides, between QA and engineering, I understand the pain points of both departments. I believe that helps me be better as an engineer to keep the department that comes down the line in mind as I work. That experience is rare to have and has made me better.

Instead of finding bugs or pointing them out, I’m fixing them. I’m also working with code features. It’s definitely a lot more code heavy. I’ve learned Golang and a lot more front end development using Angular.

What has the day-to-day work environment been like in the midst of the pandemic?

The week normally starts with a big Zoom call so people from different departments can touch base, then Tuesday through Friday we meet in smaller groups with our specific teams.

We always keep communication lines open using Slack to message each other throughout the day, too. Communication is important at Kion, so I haven’t had a single issue being able to communicate or whiteboard with my team.

Working in this pandemic has made me get used to planning out my questions and inquiries more thoroughly than if I was in the office. I don’t think that’s a bad thing. It’s helped me a lot with my soft skills. I’m a lot more clear and concise about what I want.

What are your short- and long-term goals?

Short term, I want to move up as an engineer to more mid-level positions. I definitely want to have more autonomy in making decisions, which obviously comes with experience.

If we’re talking five or six years down the line, I want to get into project management and having a lead developer role. I don’t see myself going far from where I am now. I fell in love with the cloud space here. Depending on which way technology goes in the future, AI or machine learning, I’m definitely sticking to the same theme here.

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