Being a Mkono Software Engineer: A Conversation with Anita Ly

Anita is a full stack engineer at Mkono within the Technology Team. She helps in the development of Chombo, Mkono’s internal software used to assist the Operations Team to automate and keep track of business processes. She shared with us her experience so far.

Anita Ly, Full Stack Engineer

Chombo, meaning 'tool' in Swahili, is an internal software application developped by Mkono developpers to help the Operations Team with their daily activities. From storing lists of active entrepreneurs and allies, to tracking mentorship sessions, Chombo allows Success Officers to efficiently keep up and complete their tasks. 

Tell me about yourself.

I'm currently an Analytics Engineer (think of it as a cross between data engineering and business intelligence) at ujet.cx, a tech startup in the cloud contact center space. In my spare time, I love to go backcountry camping, kayaking and building the latest Lego Ideas set.

What do you like most about volunteering at Mkono? 

The team has been super supportive and everyone is always willing to jump in to help. A lot of us are new to software engineering, so it's been great to give and receive support from one another.

In simple words, what is your job at Mkono? What are you working on?

I’m part of the technology team as a full stack engineer. Since I joined, the team has been working on Chombo, a new operations tracker to help better facilitate and organize internal processes such as tracking sessions between mentors and entrepreneurs. As the organization is growing, we recognized the need to simplify the day-to-day tasks for our volunteers to maximize the time spent on more value-added items.

What is one thing that you've learned while at Mkono?

There are ways to get creative with the various free resources out there to build a working application. Since Mkono is a non-profit organization, solutions that are built should be done in a cost-efficient manner. Luckily, we can get scrappy about how we design solutions to cater to the needs of our internal operations with minimal spending.

Lastly, do you have any advice for volunteers just joining Mkono?

Meet people from other parts of Mkono. It's great to connect with others that you may not engage with normally.

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• To learn more about the different teams at Mkono, including available opportunities, see this page!
• Wondering what it’s like to work as a Mkono Success Officer, check out this interview.
• For more blog posts about our team, navigate here.