AsKinQuestions to Adrian Moya, Senior Technical Consultant

I’m a Senior Technical Consultant at Kin + Carta, part of a team that's updating and modernizing the systems for one of the largest credit card brands in the United States. I'm currently leading part of the integration between the disputes and the fraud department. This involves deploying highly available services to store information of dispute cases related to fraud, as well as being part of discussions about design and reviewing the code of the proposed solutions.

Since I was a kid, I’ve always been interested in computers, and I just knew I was going to work in this area one day. Initially, I thought I was going to be more involved on the hardware side of things (like electronics), but at University I actually excelled at programming. This led me to move my career over to software.

My first job involved Java, and once you learn it and master it, everybody will call you to work in Java-related jobs. I love this about Java — the opportunity that it brings. However, I also appreciate that working at a consultancy I’m able to work with and learn other languages while growing in my Java expertise.

First of all, it’s the people. Our team is great. We all enjoy what we’re doing, and we constantly ask questions to actively learn from each other. Everyone is very motivated to do a great job.

I also really like the project I’m currently on because I've always loved to work on modernizing systems, taking a legacy application with a lot of issues and transforming it into something so much better. I find that my current role makes me feel like I’m making a tangible difference.

When we first started working together, it took some time to warm up to one another (as is the case with every team!) But we soon started talking, collaborating, and sharing our opinions. One of my colleagues came up with the idea of a “Learning Hour” where we discuss how to do things better. This space has helped to create a whole new dynamic between the team and now everybody is very engaged and supportive. If someone says, “hey, I'm having trouble here” we all jump into a call to see how we can help.

My favorite thing has got to be the hybrid work. I've been working remotely for many years, but never felt I got the full support from my company, especially with its population of engineers. I feel like company and Practice leadership are always on top of things, making sure everything is going well and that all individual employees have the feeling that they’re supported. Before joining Kin + Carta, my whole day would be spent alone, with no one to chat with. It could feel extremely lonely. The difference with Kin + Carta is that I can chat with everybody; I have friends, as well as colleagues, and we often step out of the work to talk about something other than programming.

In this industry, you need to be constantly learning. There will always be a project with technology that asks questions you can’t yet answer — that's the normal way of things in this area. I encourage everyone I work and network with to save a part of each day to reread documentation and watch videos in order to progress in this career.

My daughter is my inspiration — I love watching her grow. It's a real motivation for me to work every day to provide the absolute best for her.

My contribution to building a world that works better for everyone is to provide better software and systems. Everything moves so fast in this world, and my work helps people catch up. I feel like I am able to make it easier for individuals to do everyday things, such as purchases. They can forget about what’s going on under the hood and get on with their lives.