Finding Solutions with Correy Lim, Solution Engineer at Apryse

Apryse is growing so fast. The accelerated growth is bringing brand new sets of challenges and excitement every day. When looking for a new role or career in technology, you want to choose an opportunity with endless potential and professional growth opportunities. You also want to choose a career path that fulfills and encourages you to do your best for years to come.

In this employee spotlight, we interview Solution Engineer Correy Lim. He describes what it’s like to act as a technical resource for new and existing customers and help them find solutions. Here’s what he had to say when we sat down for a one-on-one.

My previous role was my first software-related job after completing my computer science degree, which taught me about modern software development practices in an academic and research-focused environment. After 3.5 years in that role, I wanted to learn from and work with more seasoned software developers, particularly in an environment where software engineering on technical products was a prime focus.

In addition to further honing my software development skills, I wanted to expand upon other potential skill sets. My previous role helped me realize that I enjoy the challenge of distilling key details around technical concepts to non-technical individuals. As I was inquiring about possible positions available at Apryse, they told me there was an opening for a Solution Engineer (SE). In some ways, the role is similar to a Sales Engineer role, but with a greater focus on leveraging software developer skills. Despite my limited exposure to the sales cycle at a profit-driven company, the role struck me as an exciting challenge I wanted to take on.

Tasks can vary daily as a Solution Engineer, which is exciting for me, as there’s rarely a day where my work feels repetitive. A vital component of the role is to be a technical resource for the sales team, being regularly available to discuss technical details with potential or existing customers, specifically in regards to how our vast array of SDK offerings may be able to solve their complex document issues.

Going into a call prepared is key to understanding the core problem the customer is facing. It’s essential to be an active listener during the call to extrapolate the pain points they’re facing and demonstrate how our software can offer a solution and facilitate an environment that encourages engaged dialogue with the customer.

Another critical role component is being ready to act as a cross-functional team member. There may be cases where a customer requests support for a feature to be added to one of our SDK offerings. The SE is expected to gather the core requirements from the customer and document this information. In some cases, the SE can perform the development work themselves, initiating API design discussions with the relevant development teams and opening a pull request for the development team to review and provide feedback.

In other cases, the SE may need to present core requirements requested from the customer and help bridge the gap in the conversation between relevant internal sales team stakeholders and development team stakeholders to see if the development team can justify adjusting their roadmap to accommodate the request.

Because a Solution Engineer wears many hats, including software development, acting as a technical resource for new customers, and providing support for existing customers, there may be times when there are several different tasks to choose from, and deciding which to prioritize can become a challenge.

Apryse’s company culture facilitates open dialogue and encourages asking for help from relevant teams when needed while encouraging the Solution Engineer to participate actively in reciprocating and providing support to teams where possible.

Talking to new customers every week and learning about some of their software architecture choices can provide insights into industry trends. This is especially helpful for someone who is always curious about new and upcoming frameworks and technologies.

A vital skill of an SE is communicating well verbally and in written form. Understanding your audience and adjusting your language accordingly is also critical whether you’re discussing matters with colleagues or customers, establishing and understanding a baseline of technical knowledge, and changing language as needed to facilitate a fruitful discussion.

Another skill to have would be having experience with modern Software Development Lifecycle (SDLC) practices, such as atomic commits, detailed commit messages, descriptive pull requests, clean code and knowing what makes good software documentation provides a Solution Engineer with the ability to empathize with developers who are new to Apryse’s offerings.

Learn more about our culture and community, and open opportunities on our careers page.