“At the end of the day, it’s all about communicating effectively and elegantly:” Jay Mahabal on Building Solutions for Customers
Jay Mahabal is a UI Engineer at Lattice, where he’s worked for over a year. Here, we talk to him about how cartography led to his engineering career, his favorite part of working at Lattice, and more.
How did you get started in UI Engineering?
I really loved maps as a kid growing up. When I got to college, I ended up taking a cartography course where we designed maps using Illustrator. It was a really interesting class, but it was also incredibly limiting to do everything by hand. As I continued my map-making journey, I ended up learning GIS, and then Python, and then finally Javascript, for making interactive, data-backed maps on the web.
From there, it evolved into data visualization and front-end development more broadly. At the end of the day, it’s all about communicating effectively and elegantly with your audience.
What drew you to Lattice?
Definitely the mission. We spend so much of our lives at work, how come we aren’t better at making that time worthwhile and efficient? I know so many people who have poor relationships with their managers or who work for companies that don’t have proper career planning. I was really excited to come and build solutions for those problems.
What’s your favorite part of working here?
In my interview, I was really impressed with how low-ego and collaborative everyone was. I’m really happy to say that even a year later that’s true! Everyone is incredibly kind, respectful, and dedicated to helping you be the best version of yourself. I also love how I’ve been able to make connections with people outside of my immediate team, even when everyone’s been remote!
What ERGs are you a member of?
I’m a member of LOUD (Latticians Organizing for Unity and Diversity).
I’ve been super lucky in my career, and I never want to take that for granted or assume that everyone had those same opportunities. ERGs like LOUD are important in our work to create a more inclusive and equitable workplace.
Favorite Lattice Slack Channel and why?
It’s gotta be #feed-new-deals, which is where the Sales team posts the deals they’ve won. The energy in there is amazing, full of encouragement, celebration, and memes. As an engineer, my day-to-day is usually all about the product so it’s really nice to be able to see into other parts of the business.
What’s something you’re passionate about outside of your job?
One of the things that’s kept me going through quarantine and the past year has been a very active book club that I’m part of. We end up reading about two books a month and it’s nice to consistently have a date in the future to look forward to. I really appreciate the friendship and community we’ve built.
(We also have a book club at Lattice!!)
Best day at work?
We just finished the 2021 EPD Hack Week where engineers, designers, and product managers spent a week forming teams and working on a project of their choosing. At the end of the week, we presented the fruits of our labor to the rest of the company at our weekly All Hands.
I was so impressed by the vision and creativity of my colleagues. The projects were intentional and thought through and executed down to the details — all in a week — and I could tell that the rest of the company was energized as well!
One of the awards we gave out was for the winning project to be added to our roadmap. If this is what people were able to build in a week, I can’t wait to see what it’ll look like with some more time and space.
Cheez-Its or Goldfish?
Cheez-Its. There’s just something about the texture.
Lattice works with People teams across the globe to turn managers into leaders, employees into high-performers, and companies into the best places to work. Interested in joining our team? Check our Careers page for all open positions across a variety of departments.