For a little more than a year, I’ve been working at a startup called Hint Innovation. I was their first employee and it has been a tremendous experience that I hope will continue for a long time. The two co-founders are actual computer/software engineers too and have a lot of expertise in the business and financials domains.

Since we were only 3 developers when we started, I had a lot of responsibilities and it didn’t take long before I had my own projects. I could take part of the design portion (probably my favorite one) of the software even though I was just fresh out of the University. I did not expect to have an impact on the design and architecture of the applications so quickly after graduating. Even though I knew I could bring something good, I just thought the corporate world would have me wait for my turn. The startup life is really something to look for if you want to do more than just programming.

Together, we’ve been working on developing software products using the latest trend in software engineering, domain-driven design. Before working there I had never heard anything about the concept, but I can assure you that this is what OO programming was created for. The main aspect of domain-driven design is that it helps manage complexity. The applications we build are very complex, yet it’s very easy to understand how it works underneath and fixing bugs or adding features is a breeze.

At the beginning of this summer (2008), I had the chance to experience managing and leading for a small project. We had an intern for the summer (who just renewed for fall) and, because of some time constraints, I was the one who would teach him and give him assignments. This was an amazing experience, the (internal) project turned out really good and we will be using and improving it for a long time.

Finally, I just want to say how glad I am to have decided to take the risk with the company (there’s always a risk when going for a small 2 people company), I have learned so much in that year and I can truly say that I love my job.