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Meet Esther
25 Plays1 year ago
She's travelled a twisted Engineering journey throughout our org from Mobile to Productivity to Site Reliability with LT&A — Meet Esther!
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Transcript
Podcast Introduction and Host's Perspective
00:00:00
Speaker
What's up, y'all? I'm really excited to be back. It's been a few weeks since I've hung out in front of this mic. Hello. Hi, LD. We're on The Commute, our podcast. I miss it around here, and I miss y'all. Thanks for listening. Today, my friends, you know I'm a vibes guy. I roam around this office soaking up good energy. I'm a natural introvert, so people who are like happy and extroverted like fill me up when I'm drained from spending time with so many people at here.
Guest Introduction: Esther's Career Journey
00:00:30
Speaker
You are one of those people. Every time I see you in this office, we make eye contact, I pass you, we hug. I just like, you fill my battery. It's it's a beautiful thing. So introduce yourself. Who are you? What are you doing here, my friend? Okay. Hi, everybody. My name is Esther. I am a software engineer at Loblaw Technology, but... What?
00:00:51
Speaker
um I'm a writer dialogue about digital. Everybody knows that. You're going to have to really take it out of me somehow. You got a tattoo somewhere, I know. I know. i i But I've been in the company since 2018. I've had three jobs so far here in like like horizontal different businesses. I started off as a Android developer for PCX. And I moved over to release engineering, so I was part of the EP team ah back when Justin was here. um And then after that, I moved over to site reliability engineer. So if GitLab went down, it's not my fault. But yeah, that's kind of like what I do right now. That's quite a story. yeah that's That's a long journey here. Site reliability, that's with Jaspa and the crew, yeah?
00:01:43
Speaker
All right, old friend of the fam as well. oh gee I love it. I love it. Well, ah like I say, Esther, the work you do here is is ah is obviously important, but the vibes you bring are are that much more. Important before I forget for folks who don't know me. ah My name is Liam I lead the UX practice here my pronouns are he and him and i'm I'm just honored to get to hang out and chat to cool people in the organization about what they're ah what they're up to and what this work means is to them and um When we started this podcast a couple months ago now we were were unpacking some gear in our in our research lab around the corner and like
00:02:20
Speaker
You know, I've never worked with such professional equipment in my life. And you passed the room, and you busted in, you were like, this is amazing, this is a flashback for me, guess what? and And you told me this part of your story that like just further reinforced how positive and dynamic your vibe is and the energy you bring to us and our teams. Okay, so so I'm not gonna ruin the punchline.
Cultural Background and Radio Career
00:02:43
Speaker
Tell me, Esther, one, where are you from? And tell me the story that we that we got into in that lab the other day. gotcha okay so my background is I'm Congolese ah but I grew up in South Africa ok and then I did a couple of years in Ghana before I came here and part of the little me busting in I can't keep to myself especially when it's
00:03:06
Speaker
that's That's your best quality. Like, opening doors, like, I'm here. Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. I'm gonna have fun, guys. um So, but when I was in Ghana, I had the opportunity of working at a radio station. And I did, so I was, like, a main producer. So I was a content producer. And then and then we became producers. And then we had a radio show. And then prior to that, we had another radio show. And then in between those, we also had, so it was me and my sister when I say we, yin and yang, could you not? We also had voice, we did voiceovers for like DJs and stuff like that. So we'll be like, you're listening to XFM 95.1. Like you like learn how to like fluctuate your voice and stuff like that. So I learned a lot. yeah It was like, you know, school of the hard knocks. You're like, oh, we're offline.
00:04:02
Speaker
and people just bused in like
00:04:07
Speaker
So it was fun. Wow. fine Okay. So you and your sister at a radio station in Ghana, yeah producing, making shows. you say Oh my God. They're like coming. Like I remember one time a person came and was like, okay, we need a night show. Go. and were like ah ok So we came up with this one called Battle of the Axis where it was like men and female needed to go up against each other with like sports questions and like we would have to like it was like three different sessions and then we had to go and like talk to vendors and be like we want to give like a spa package we want to give like a all these different kind of packages and like we would put together the gifts, we would put together the scripts, we would run over it with the DJ. Sometimes we'll be like, you gotta put in like, you know, this track, that track, you know, stuff like that. And then we would watch the show play out, right?
Radio Industry Dynamics and Skills
00:04:58
Speaker
And I think I'm not gonna lie. I think that's where my nerves were shot so much that I got no chill now. Like I was just like walking on my arm.
00:05:07
Speaker
Was it all live or was it all live? It was all live. I think we only did like maybe one pre-recorded show or like one of the shows became pre-recorded after a bit but everything was live. So I did the freeway show so it was like I think 9 to 12 so we had to have that script ready. My sister did What's the freeway show? Pause there. What was that about? Okay, the freeway show was kind of like your midday drive show. You kind of listened to like, you know, it was, what was the guy's name? I can't remember. I can't believe it. But it was like the freeway show. Think of it like your midday drive, you know, trying to go somewhere and the guy would like this.
00:05:45
Speaker
like smooth voice would come in like, hi, my name is Johnny. And it's like, you know, I had to put together some of the jokes. I had to put together like, you know, bits and pieces like different sections and stuff like that. So it was really fun. Wow. And then, no, no, sorry, I'm mixing them up. The free show was the three to six and then exhale was nine to twelve because the station was XFM. So we played a lot with the X and the X in them. So we had XL, we had the Freeway Show, I think, or the Expressway. God, I should have gone over this. And then we had Generation X, and then we had Battle of the Axis. I see, I see. And then my show was called GH Rocks. This is a one. I remember you telling me about this. Yeah, okay. I think I actually even like send the bit of like, I found it after a bit and I was like, oh my God. I found like my promo, which was like,
00:06:42
Speaker
one more time up the radio as we plug in the amplifiers every saturday on gh rocks i've heard some pretty ugly things about those guys
00:07:02
Speaker
from 2 to 3 p.m. with me, Little Miss Magic, performing your favorite band, playing hit tracks back to back to taking it to where it all began.
00:07:17
Speaker
Honestly, yeah, like a lot of it was live um My nerves were you know, and so how are you like, you know, you got to think on your feet You're managing a million things you're helping choose tracks. You're helping fill space like exactly, you know, what what what is that experience? Like how did you get good at it? Were there any sort of tools you learn to like I don't know get through the stress? To be honest, at first it was pretty rough because like obviously I didn't have a background in life or or anything. And if anything, like when I came here, that's actually what I wanted to do. right I wanted to go into like sound engineering. Cause that to me was just, I felt normal yeah there. I was like, yeah, this is my GM. I mean, we just turned on audio stings in stores through advance. So I mean, you have a chance to get back into sound engineering here. And also like a voiceover like yeah totally right up there. um But kind of just going back to your question of like how I got comfortable. yeah
00:08:12
Speaker
and I think it was like just seeing how people work and one thing I will say about me and my sister like we are very good at adapting like we've just in our childhood we've had to move a lot um and then just through that there was always things thrown at us like there was always Oh, okay. This is new. oh Oh, we don't have a choice. Okay. Fantastic. sure you know so And I think that kind of translated into radio and we just got good at it. You just learn to pick up on things, right? I love that. How far in age a apart are you, too?
00:08:46
Speaker
three three years and three days. Okay. Three years and three days. Yeah. Pretty close. Birthday parties are fun. Oh man. I guess so. Um, but like, yeah, I think that's kind of the thing and a part of it kind of also like built our relationship because we weren't just having to be sisters. We had to be coworkers. We had to, of course, learn how to like banter with each other. Like a whole bunch of things where it's like, I mean, we we were roommates, like a lot of it, right? So, um I think just during that process we really just learned to adapt and the importance of adapting to something and also just like being open to criticism because I think that was probably the one thing for me that was like holy smokes and
00:09:27
Speaker
I'm better for it I will say because a lot of the times like if you have dead air or if your show doesn't hit like it's not like like here like when you're having a product you have like a review process you can check it again you can go back to the drawing board it's live okay right what you said is what you said It's almost like the code you're typing is like literally going directly into the product. Exactly. It's like, you know, in the minute you make an error in a design wall, the customer saw it. Exactly. There's no hiding. And it was not spelled right. Well, they saw it, you know? And so it's like everything is kind of go, go, go. Yeah. Wow. So like, yeah, you really learn how to like quick think on your, like quick think on your face. quick think just like thinking like quickly on your feet kind of thing and yeah no that was it was fun like I'm not gonna lie it was stressful crazy but it was so much fun tell me a bit about that sort of the the resilience or the thick skin to feedback because you have a producer come in and say hey dead air hey that didn't hit hey whatever yeah are they are they using just like subjective energy or they're saying like I didn't like that or they're saying the audience feedback like how did that so we
00:10:41
Speaker
I think a lot of it was because it was a brand new radio show, so I'll probably give a bit of context. So there was two radio shows was at that time. There was XFM and there was YFM. And then we used to do a lot of the radio voiceovers for YFM at that one point. um and it would be like YFM like it was like a whole thing that you would throw in between like songs right and then at the same time they were like hey there's a new radio show like starting eight right called XFM so it was XFM and YFM were like going back and forth like no what you don't we want you Yeah, you know what I mean? So it was it was kind of fun. And um so because it was like a brand new radio show, like a lot of the things were just kind of being built and going at the same time. and So we did start getting a bit of feedback. But the reason why I bought ah but i brought that up is because like, you know, the the directors or the people kind of like owning the the radio show, like they had a vision.
00:11:37
Speaker
And we kind of have to come in and create content and work around that vision. So yes, sometimes it would be like, no, this is not exactly what I'm aiming for. Or other times it would just be the basic technicalities of just like, you know, you can't have dead air. um You can have, I think the one that I learned so fast about is you cannot have songs with swear words. so like you would go into the but studio and you're like oh f okay you gotta to reverse the f so it like so it was like those are like some of the technicalities that you really had to like think on your feet like yeah sometimes if you had a new song you would have to like sit there like with your eyes closed and listen listen listen make sure you've like taken out all the swear word and then sometimes you'll be like
00:12:24
Speaker
Was that a swear word? Is that a swear word? Does that count? I i just heard that word before. A lot of it was like the technicalities. At the time it was like a vision. Other times it's like, you know, if you would maybe go a little bit off of script or something like that or something, did it make
Music and Radio Show Memories
00:12:42
Speaker
sense? So like you would have to go in and talk to like the DJ and something like that, which by the way, they were like all freaking amazing. sure um Eddie Blay was like one that we worked with and he was a person that the generation acts super solid guy um I actually just not too long ago we we kind of linked up again with the person who actually got it like he was kind of like I guess he was like a director at that time like he ran the shows like
00:13:07
Speaker
when he Ghana Kwame Fauche he's a guy like he is on anywhere you go it's like he's there kind of yeah and we recently just kind of spoke to him and he was just like man like you guys were just fired like we could throw you an eggshell and you make it happen kind of thing right so like yeah I think like just um like learning on the go, like learning on the fly. And I think even when we came here to Canada, that just benefited us. Like I'm so used to learning on the fly that sometimes when someone just gives me theory now, I'm like.
00:13:46
Speaker
No, I need to see it in action, right, because of that. But like yeah, definitely that period was interesting. yeah But the feedback part was super important. I'm sure, of course, as it is for anybody creating things. the Is your sister here in Toronto with you? Yes, she is. Well, we found two new hosts for this podcast. That's the best outcome today. she Yeah, she works with Snapchat. Oh, for real? Yeah, she does. She's a senior content right producer. Oh, cool. Product producer. OK. Snap, snap partnership coming. yeah that's That's great to know. Wow.
00:14:20
Speaker
yeah um yeah okay so So tell me, you're working with DJs, you're listening to tracks, you're like you know making sure you're censoring things and you and you're curating playlists and whatever. What were the tracks were that were hitting at that time? Give me some bangers. What was on the air that you remember really rocking through? OK, I remember, I think it was 15-year-old Justin Bieber and us having a whole thing on it. And we were like, he's not going to be big. My sister was like, he is going to. It's so crazy, because I think that's probably the one thing I would say about my sister is She just knows when someone's gonna be famous. yeah Like, I heard about Cardi B, her first track, before she was even Cardi B. And my sister was like, she's gonna be big. Next, she's big. Same thing with Justin Bieber, she walked in. He's gonna be huge. And same thing, right? oh But yeah, it was like, ah Justin Bieber back then, it was, okay, so the thing about Ghana too is, aside from like the hip hop, they're very big on like UK music. Right. So it was like migrant skank. It was like African warrior. It was like, you know, that kind of like don't know what you call this um party hard from Don't know. So those those kind of tracks were like pretty big as well. And they also have like their own kind of genres like hip life and stuff like that. Sure. So you would be like going in between that. yeah And then for my radio show, um because it was a rock show. Yeah, she's rocks, right? I used to play like the track I was listening to when he saw me walking down. What do you call this um offspring? ah Hit that. oh yeah yeah That's a real throwback. Evanescence. There's some deep cuts. ah Going Under from Evanescence. A lot of Puddle of Mud. Back then it was Linkin Park I think released that second album after Meteor I think it was. So that was really big. I used to have like one song I think from Slipknot but I can't remember which one it was.
00:16:27
Speaker
I love that, I love that like like post post all rock, like kind of like metal, skank, like Scott Grange. That stuff is so, yes, yes, okay. Every time people play Creed, they're like, what? I'm like, you don't understand. Creed was my favorite band, okay? Do not disrespect the lane. I love this for you. It's not on my playlist, but I love this for you. Anytime. and Anytime I see you with those headphones on bumping the Creed, you know. oh so So that was like someone like. This is a ah real big reveal right now. I know. Wow. People change your opinion. I still have. You know, I don't judge. You know, I don't judge. but Yeah. Oh, it was also like cranberries was one of the bad ones, too. Sami. Sami, huge track. So yeah, like it was definitely like a mix Andrea. There was also a very big on like ah like I was really big on dubstep dubstep.
Future Podcast Ideas and Music Passion
00:17:25
Speaker
Yeah, yeah, yeah. Drum and bass, you got to talk to our boy Mike Oliver. Big drum and bass head, the UCO team. Yeah, big fan. Big fan, number four. But like yeah, so it was a very nice mix of everything because we had sections of everything. But like yeah, know that was kind of like a summarize. All right, all right. You just took me back to like some years I had forgotten intentionally. maybe Maybe I was too high. I'm not sure. um But those are some good some good throwbacks there. So if anybody's looking for playlists,
00:17:54
Speaker
This is your girl. Oh, Esther. I try. You try. I try. Or maybe just a host for the playlist. I'm going to probably do like a playlist where it's like dubstep, and then there's a guy just walking you through how to install Kubernetes. OK, I can see this. I see this. And my worlds are merging together. We got to use this like voiceover radio jockey. No. No, you're installing it. Exactly. exactly this you nailed that and then we take it to snap for the content partnership with your sister there and we're golden we're good okay new new revenue stream coming at you blah blah amazing that's awesome i love this this story really rocked me when i first heard it it fit so well for you and it was just so nice to like live in it and experience it with you so so we're gonna like we're gonna dig up some archives whatever you can share to us any of those things any of those voiceovers any of that stuff There's the voiceovers, definitely. ok um okay I mean, those ones, I know they're so to our understanding, they still use it till today. For real? Yeah, they still use it. They still listen to the drops that we have. but You were listening to XFM.
00:19:02
Speaker
That's a legacy right there. Why. i like it Really. Yeah it's still there there. I mean I'm gonna I'm gonna have to start streaming to listen. The last time I did and I think it was like some time in 2018 or 16 when I did stream in I heard it. I was like wow. That's gonna be wild to hear yourself still on the radio. yeah It's like. That's bananas, man. the ah you know I hope that folks, you know if there are still long commutes happening, I know the gardener has been intense lately. So this is the time to be soaking up this content, this conversation, you and me. Come back any time. Host an episode. Y'all know you want to hear more of Esther on the commute, for sure. Let's see if I can still do it. Do it. that's OK, challenge. Called action for you. Come back and host a spot. Done. All right. Got it. I want i think we're going to probably have one like because I was thinking about because one of the things that i I think last thing I'll probably say about radio is the thing that got me in it was music. Yeah. um Hence why when I came to Canada, I actually never wanted to be a software engineer. That was like, uh oh. Don't tell your boss. But you see, I'm still good at my job. so i But I actually wanted to become, ah because I used to write beats, like I actually have a couple of soundtracks that I created. on I put it on SoundCloud and like and and all of that. So definitely being able to come back and be in this realm would be pretty super cool. Okay. i'm la
00:20:27
Speaker
let's figure out how to make that happen. he is a did But like yeah like so um the one of the ideas that I was thinking I was like hey we should probably like have a compilation of all the tracks from like all the different people from all the different cultures and just have like a vibe like a jam vibe of like you know this comes from Jacob, this comes froma melissa from this comes from Despriset and then like keep doing that because I think it'd be kind of cool because I always go around and ask people so what do you listen to? yeah yeah And nobody would guess that Creed came from Esther. yeah
00:21:02
Speaker
we and That's Jacob's karaoke jam. yeah I could see it. This is why love you.
00:21:15
Speaker
Hell yeah, come back any time, let's do that. That was the most Canadian concept you ever described to me. It's like, let's do like a world music episode. I'm i'm so here for it. Oh my god, I didn't you, but before we had the rages, we had another show called Vibrations. Yeah. And that's what we did. We went around the world and picked songs to be like, this is what's number one in Armenia. but but you know I love that. I love those. Bring it back.
Conclusion and Future Prospects
00:21:42
Speaker
a Fantastic. Thank you. Good, good trail about memory lane for sure. That's what's up. I appreciate you spending the time today. Thank you. Thanks, Esther. Enjoy your day, LD. Thanks for listening today.