By Kathryn McKenna
Paul Hill is the Managing Director and VP of Engineering at DailyPay, which is a best-in-class, trusted, first-of-its-kind technology platform that dynamically changes how money moves - changing pay for good.
Founded in 2015, DailyPay’s unique platform allows payroll providers to offer employees early access to wages they have earned, helping them avoid payday lenders and potential costly charges.
Whilst sitting down with Sync NI, Paul reveals the key attributes which make an excellent software engineer include taking the initiative and being able to investigate an issue without prompting. Some of the most talented software engineers Paul has ever worked with identify a problem and immediately set about finding the solution. “Setting out to solve the problem straight away shows you have the initiative and the ability to learn fast,” Paul comments. “It shows an understanding of the business and this really stands out as an invaluable skill within technology.”
READ MORE: DailyPay announces international expansion into the United Kingdom
In addition to the ability to take one’s own initiative, Paul emphasises how vital it is to enjoy your role in order to excel at what you do. Paul, who himself started out originally wishing to become a computer engineer, found that he had a particular interest instead in software engineering. Studying computer engineering provided Paul with the prerequisite skills to pursue a career in software engineering.
“I particularly enjoyed software engineering, and decided to move into this area having studied computer engineering, which I found I had less interest in. Studying computer engineering gave me the necessary education I needed to get into software engineering, which I enjoyed and truly loved. It is important to love what you do and have a genuine interest in it so that you are able to apply your learning and your knowledge in the real world,” Paul explains.
Applying your learning in the real world is key, with Paul emphasising the difference of being able to learn something and actually having an interest and wanting to learn. “Just because you can learn something, doesn’t mean you have an interest in the subject. As well as having an aptitude for mathematics, science and problem solving, to be successful in engineering you have to have genuine interest in itin order to be able to keep learning new skills, be willing to make and learn from your mistakes and take feedback on board,” Paul comments.
One way to advance a software engineer’s experience and expertise is to expose them to a broad set of problems as an aid to advance their knowledge across a lot of different technologies.
On the importance of mentorship within technology, Paul credits Principal Engineer at DailyPay, Anders Cassidy, for helping to teach and inspire those around him.
Paul references the ‘T-shaped engineer’ which is a phrase widely used in the industry for someone who is extremely knowledgeable in a chosen field, whilst also maintaining a solid knowledge of a wide range of related and relevant technologies. Having an experienced, senior engineer to work alongside and learn from is vital, with Paul acknowledging Anders for his in-depth expertise. This experience and expertise-level sees Anders solving a problem in hours which might take others several weeks.
As a history graduate, Anders is a particularly inspiring mentor because he proves that whilst coming from a STEM background helps, it is not essential in order to enjoy a successful career in technology. “Having an aptitude for technology and a genuine interest in it is the most important thing,” Paul explains. “Anders surrounded himself with senior software engineers to build his knowledge. It is important to take on feedback from senior engineers and maximise the opportunity to learn.”
READ MORE: Paul Hill, Dailypay: 'Belfast has been very influential in leading the way within the company'
Plenty of ‘white space’ allows software engineers to focus on the task at hand and allow themselves to enter a ‘flow state’, an approach strongly supported and actively encouraged across all the engineering teams within DailyPay. The time difference with the US team also allows the team to schedule their workflow accordingly, working on projects during their white space time to begin with before following up on administrative tasks such as video meetings or phone calls in the afternoon when their American colleagues are logged on. Paul comments: “As a manager, making sure the team has white space in their calendar to be able to focus without interruption, enter a flow state of productivity and generate output is key. We then get to speak with our colleagues in the US in the afternoon, giving us an ideal balance.”
Finally, with the continuing prevalence of AI and questions over its potential impact particularly within the field of technology, Paul believes whilst AI will help us to become more efficient with our time, it is certainly not a replacement for talented people. Rather, it can be used effectively to give ideas of the direction of where to go with a problem, rather than offering the full and final solution. Paul concludes: “When we enter code into an AI programme – what we receive it is not the full solution, it is just a piece you can potentially use. It is not expert level code, and it is certainly not the finished product. Whilst it might not be able to give us the full answer, it can give us helpful ideas around the direction in which to go in.
“The human mind is too complex and amazing to replace. It won’t replace the likes of Anders Cassidy and our team of truly amazing software engineers at DailyPay.”
Career opportunities
DailyPay Belfast is rapidly expanding, with the American fintech company planning to employ close to 300 people in Belfast by the middle of 2025 as part of a £24m investment. The roles, which will have an average salary of £42,500 a year and are set to deliver £12m into the local economy in additional salaries, will be based from McAuley House in DailyPay’s Castle Street office based in Belfast city centre.
The industry leader in on-demand pay technology empowers colleagues with choice and control over their earned pay. The £24m investment by DailyPay was secured for Northern Ireland after Invest NI’s US team promoted the benefits of establishing an office in Northern Ireland and worked closely with the company to help set it up here.
To find out more about some of the series of exciting opportunities currently available, as well as news and updates on DailyPayvisit: syncni.com/company/dailypay.
Read Sync NI's free online autumn magazine, Celebrating a Becade of Big Data Belfast here.
