Meet Kosmosnautes #4: François-Xavier, Lead Developer

Can you tell us what your day-to-day life as a Lead Developer is like, as if you had to explain your job to your grandmother?

I help build websites for schools and universities.
We use K-Sup to create the websites, which enables us to quickly meet most of our customers' requirements. But often, the customer has specific needs, i.e. functionalities that are not part of the product and that we're going to implement. The Lead Developer is therefore responsible for costing, to check whether there is a discrepancy between what has been sold and what needs to be done. For the design phase, in addition to development, my job is to facilitate that of the developers. Beyond that, I'm the technical referent for all matters relating to the software factory within our team. This involves taking part in Pieces of work to maintain and upgrade the software factory.

What do you love most about your job?

At Kosmos, we work in the web and we know this field inside out. This means that we have a firm grasp of what we're doing, and a firm grip on our product. The technical environment evolves on a relatively regular basis, while remaining under control. We don't hesitate to choose other technologies if new needs arise. So we choose a technology because it's the right tool for the job, not to please ourselves.
What's more, there are Skills people at Kosmos. In my other experiences, I lacked challenges. I found myself working as a referent on technical subjects, making choices on my own without talking to other people, even though I didn't feel particularly expert in the field. But at Kosmos, if you want to have technical discussions, there are colleagues with the skills to do so. From a functional point of view, I'd rather work in education than in any other sector. When you show your family what you produce, it's pretty cool. And I also enjoy the diversity of my activities, it's interesting.

What qualities do you think are required for this job?

Organization, I think. And you have to know how to manage priorities. What's more, you're working on a lot of projects at the same time, and it's important to document everything.
You also have to keep abreast of new tools and technologies. You can spend a bit of time on it during the week. Managers are quite open to the idea of keeping up to date.
Last but not least, you need to be able to think in abstract terms, i.e. to have a global vision so as to be able to carry out developments while taking future needs into account.

An achievement or project that made you proud?

The 1st major K Sup project I worked on. It was a good experience, with a lot of interesting things going on: we exchanged a lot with the customer and managed to establish a positive relationship. At the end of the project, I'm happy to know that the customer is satisfied.

What do you like best about Kosmos?

Overall, I find the atmosphere very good. It's very easy to talk to people in the company. It's very natural, and there's not much sense of hierarchy. Internal events are very convivial. The working hours are quite comfortable when you have a family life on the side, which is nice.

If you hadn't done this job, what would you have done?

Student in Larzac ;)... A large part of my family is in the agricultural sector, so I think it's something that would have interested me. What I like about it is the freedom it gives me. You're your own boss.

Can you give us 2 truths and 1 lie about yourself?

Do you have a wish or an idea on your Bucket list?

Make the EuroVélo 6 with the whole family. Follow the Loire, Rhine and Danube rivers to the Black Sea by bike!