Interview with Kabiru Mwenja on work culture at OpenProject

Meet Kabiru Mwenja, Senior Software Engineer

Hi, I’m Kabiru. I am a software engineer at OpenProject. I have been on the team for 1.5 years.

I live in Nairobi, Kenya with my wife and twins.

I am nearing a decade as a software engineer. I love working remotely, always have!

What drew you to OpenProject?

When they posted the job for this role, I was immediately interested because I am a lifelong open source enthusiast. I have worked on open source projects with people from around the world, where we’re just openly solving shared problems. I love that.

What do you appreciate about the work culture?

I am the only Kenyan on the team, which is new to me, but we’re all together, working as humans, regardless of background. I feel respected and valued. And I respect and value my colleagues. I love to learn about other cultures.

In terms of management, my manager listens first and then asks questions to get to the root of it. He is honest and transparent. There are no games, just understanding and working on challenges as needed. Also, managers try to explain to the developers the reason behind the reason—the program, the high-level or the low-level, depending—so that we can understand and really be a part of it.

What is a day in the life of an OpenProject software developer like?

Hmm.

I do have a general personal workflow. I like to start my day by logging into our own system, OpenProject, checking on any notifications on work packages I’m involved in or any new reports relevant to our team.

Then, I check my email for any monitoring reports which may be regarding integrations, like OneDrive SharePoint or NextCloud. We monitor them because these integrations are fairly complex. We’ll get notifications on something that went wrong, which might turn into a discussion for our daily standup.

Then, I log into GitHub and check on pull requests, especially if I contributed something and someone has responded. I like to start my work by unblocking other people. It’s a useful habit that I carry over from previous roles. It’s more of a manager mindset, and it’s really good for developers to have.

Some days have more meetings than others. I find blocks of time to get a good amount of work done, but meetings are sometimes necessary. I appreciate being able to see the agenda ahead of time and make a decision.

What is your favorite form of art, and why?

Music is my favorite form of art. I do not hold strong affiliations to specific genres. To me, music is what’s pleasing to the ear. That’s how I define it.

I’m a Time Traveler when it comes to music. I seek music that’s new to me and like to traverse the whole music spectrum. I do however have a soft spot for Kenyan alternative music.

What are you reading or learning about right now?

I mostly read technical content. Right now, I’m reading about sustainable web development by David Copeland. He shares practical tips for developing web applications.

I’m particularly passionate about sustainable and simple architectures: which the books dives into. In our field, you can find a lot of jargon and people trying to complicate things that don’t need to be complicated. In this book, he writes about the core tenants, such as: if this is how we define a pattern in one place and keep the structure everywhere, consistency helps people quickly onboard. Because if you have consistency, then you get conventions.

What is your favorite activity outside of work?

I love going for long walks in the forest. We have an amazing forest in Nairobi, and this is where I get a chance to slow down. I breathe and think about what’s going well. Sometimes, we forget and must take stock of things that are going well.

Do you have any pets?

Yes, our dog, her name is Nandi. I like to bring her along on my forest walks.

What did you study at university, and where was your first job?

I studied computer science. I’m also a classically trained musician, although rather out of practice right now. My first job was actually as a trombone tutor where I taught music at a local orchestra in Nairobi.

What is something that you have accomplished this year?

Getting back into simplified full-stack development.

In the last couple of years, front-end architectures have become quite complicated, so I was focused on the backend, building APIs. But now I’m getting back into front-end development so I can manage a project from start to finish.

I’ve been excited to be part of upgrading some of the OpenProject storage components.

What else are you passionate about?

Music, for sure. I want to get back to it, but that’s more difficult now as I am a father of twins and a full-time developer. I suppose this is natural and a phase of life. It is nice to have many other colleagues with families as well.

Also, I remain passionate about open source. It is so interesting how OpenProject is building a successful company. Most businesses will tell you that to be successful, you must be closed source, but that’s not true. We’re living proof!