Alex’s wise words on gratitude and his Tech Leadership journey

I think this is coming from my upbringing – my mum and dad always told me that when you work, you work hard and you work smart, but always stay humble! That’s one thing I will never forget, and that’s also one thing that helped me get where I am today. Never forget to say “Thank You” – it’s important to show your appreciation because everything comes at a price. It’s one of the best words to use and I teach the same thing to my children.

When I first started, I was working on development work in both front end and back end for about a year. During this role, I got a lot of opportunities to learn within the organisation and across different technologies through the guidance of my previous Principal Developer and Senior Developers – then I got promoted to the Senior Developer role. I continue to mentor and coach my team and soon after, I got the opportunity to be promoted as Software Engineering Team Lead thanks to the trust and faith that my colleagues have in me. Everything changed for me here! I was dealing with a new set of challenges – I went from coding to a Leader whom people now look up to. It was challenging but I was interested – I am always curious to know what management and leadership feels like.

I have to say I am very pleased with the supports that Class is providing. As challenging as it was, the supportive systems in place made it a smooth transition. Our Extreme Performer (EP) program and Horizontal Leadership resources were helpful. They gave me a lot of insights into the leadership roles. I have learnt about what sort of questions and conversations one must focus on, and how to care for our team members.