Nick joined Bisonai in October 2023 as a Blockchain Software Engineer. Previously, he worked at Yanolja and Block Crafters as a Software Engineer. His professional career began in 2018. Currently, he develops a distributed off-chain aggregation system for Orakl Network, a decentralized blockchain oracle that offers a multitude of services on the Klaytn blockchain, including 30+ data feeds, verifiable random function, request-response, and proof of reserve.
M: Hello Nick, can you please introduce yourself?
N: Hello, my name is Nick, and I’m a Blockchain Software Engineer working at Bisonai. Currently, I am working on the off-chain side of our product called Orakl Network. Last October, I decided to join Bisonai because the idea of working in a multicultural team was attractive to me, and I was eager for such an experience. I wanted to gain experience working in such a team because you can learn a lot from different viewpoints, and especially in South Korea, it is not common.
M: Thank you for your introduction! You seem to have a lot of experience as a Blockchain Software Engineer. Can you please share with us what motivated you to pursue this career?
N: Actually, I haven’t worked as a blockchain software engineer for too long; my career started around 2022. At that time, I decided to shift my interest from Web2 to Web3. I knew that blockchain was a cutting-edge technology, and it was attractive for many developers. In Web2, the work can sometimes be a bit monotonous, but in Web3, you get to experience different challenges, such as gas optimization. The gas optimization problem is incomparable to anything in Web2. When contracts are executed and consume gas, we as developers have to focus tightly on optimizing all the smart contracts. I believe that’s why I’ve enjoyed smart contract development and why I’ve remained in this industry for quite some time.
M: As a blockchain software engineer working on Orakl Network, how would you describe your day-to-day tasks and responsibilities?
N: Regarding day-to-day tasks, one of the most important aspects is ensuring the proper functioning of our production services. To achieve this, I conduct daily checks to identify any issues that may have occurred overnight and to ensure that everything is functioning as expected. If everything is in order, I then concentrate on enhancing our current system.
M: Can you please share more details about how you plan to improve the current Orakl Network system?
N: Of course! Currently, I’m focused on enhancing the off-chain aggregation aspect of the Orakl Network. Previously, our oracle aggregated all the information on-chain, which made it less cost-effective and limited in scalability. By transitioning from on-chain to off-chain aggregation, we aim to significantly reduce transaction costs, enhance the scalability of supported data feeds, and even enable support for a pull-based oracle solution.
M: Can you please describe the structure of your team?
N: Our team consists of one blockchain software engineer who focuses on on-chain development, one blockchain software engineer who focuses on off-chain development, a DevOps engineer, and a team leader.
M: Can you describe more in detail about how you collaborate with others?
N: The first thing we do in the morning is a daily sync, where we share our goals for the day, discuss any problems we are facing, and update each other on our progress. During the sync, if there’s something I need from my teammates, such as a favor or assistance with a task, I ask for help from other team members. For example, if I need to test something in a newly launched VM, I ask Jay, our DevOps Engineer, for assistance in setting up the environment and instance to run the tests. And whenever I encounter tough challenges, I seek help from our team leader. Recently, I was migrating parts of code from JavaScript to Go related to the generation of delegated fee transactions and communication with JSON-RPC on the Klaytn network. Since there are no libraries for the Go language that support this, I had to implement many low-level features. During this process, I encountered an issue where I couldn’t submit some raw transactions to JSON-RPC. I asked my team leader for help, and he provided me with lots of hints. I learned new ways to debug in such situations. Eventually, I solved the problem and created a new Go package that focuses solely on communication with the Klaytn network. This kind of collaboration experience is satisfying.
M: What is the most rewarding part of working on Orakl Network?
N: Compared to my previous experiences, the most rewarding part of working on Orakl Network is the high standard and expectation to deliver high-quality code from all team members. It serves as great motivation and helps me to grow. Even if I write a piece of code that simply works, it doesn’t end there. We always strive to make the code more readable, efficient, and user-friendly. This kind of conversation is ongoing on GitHub and in person as well.
M: Can you please explain why you prefer to work in a team that focuses on code quality?
N: I have always dreamed of this type of work experience as a developer, where I’m not just approving other members’ pull requests without any consideration. I wanted to exchange my thoughts with teammates, and through sharing different opinions, I aimed to contribute to developing a better product and code. At Bisonai, we actively engage in giving and receiving feedback, and I believe it helps the project move in the right direction.
M: What do you think about Bisonai’s culture in general?
N: The culture at Bisonai is particularly attractive because we communicate in English, and our members are not only Koreans. We have members from multiple regions: Hong Kong, Vietnam, Uzbekistan, and the Czech Republic. When we engage in conversations, we don’t limit ourselves to typical topics often discussed among Koreans. Instead, we discuss various subjects all the time, which is quite interesting and enjoyable. It’s really enriching to share different viewpoints and cultures. Personally, using English at work is effective for me because I don’t have to worry about using polite forms in English communication, there’s less formality, which makes me feel more relaxed when communicating with others.
M: Who do you think would fit well at Bisonai?
N: I believe the ideal candidate should possess a great deal of enthusiasm for Web3 and software craftsmanship because we don’t just aim to deliver a functional product; we strive to make the solution or product perfect. While achieving perfection may be impossible, it’s the direction we aim for. If someone cannot align with this approach, they might find it challenging to adapt. As someone who enjoys challenges and has high expectations for myself, I think Bisonai is a great fit for me.
