A couple of times a month, we like to get to know members of the KJR Collective a little better. Today we catch up with Xian Wang.

Years in the industry: 14

Started at KJR: In November 2016

Based in: Melbourne

Currently working with: Xian is working closely with Crown Resorts on multiple projects, initially focusing on mobile app automation and now transitioning towards project management on the digital side of things.

What Xian loves most about his job…

Xian’s role as a senior consultant started off with a lot of automation for his clients and has slowly fused with process management. Additionally, Xian plays a role in team management which has provided him the ongoing opportunity to earn more experience in his workday. Xian enjoys how he can provide knowledge of his skills in the digital landscape to different people by “getting into a mentoring mindset”, both from the organisations he’s working with and his teammates at KJR. Working in quality assurance with clients is a bonus for Xian. “In QA you get to learn transferable skills, and I really like that aspect”. Xian’s heavy involvement in QA as well as the variety of clients he works with means “playing around with different sorts of technology” and learning new skills and processes on one job he can take to the next client.

How Xian got into this industry…

Prior to working at KJR, Xian was a senior software engineer for a teeny tiny company called Microsoft. He worked there for seven years in Melbourne and then was lucky enough to work abroad for a year and a half at Microsoft’s office in Seattle. Xian helped cultivate critical features of programs such as Windows Defender and worked on enhancing machine learning processes like identifying malware. Working overseas was difficult with a fiancé back in Melbourne, however, so returning home soon felt like the right move to make. Not long after returning to Melbourne, KJR welcomed Xian into the family with open arms.

What Xian thinks about the future of tech…

“Data is crucial to the future of technology”, a sentiment and development that plays a central part in Xian’s role at KJR. The capacity of data to improve the customer experience has only reached the tip of the iceberg in recent years, and Xian understands it will have an even bigger part to play in the future. “Data you collect can be used to check if products provide the value you’d like to customers”, which can be used by organisations to drive a lot of decisions regarding the implementation of future services that customers value. Using data in conjunction with other processes, such as machine learning, can help speed up the machine learning model and increase development speeds even further as time passes. Alongside data, Xian is excited by the potential for automation to grow and its capacity to create a culture of development “less dependent on manual testing”.

He also does other things…

The biggest reason Xian came back to Melbourne was to be with his family – so it’s no surprise that outside of work he spends a lot of time with them. As well as his wife, Xian finds himself busy with his son, who’s now one and a half years old. On an average weekend, you can find him involved in “standard family stuff”, like going to the park, and playing around and entertaining his son.

Xian’s final word of advice…

Data is on the horizon – get involved with data analytics and machine learning, because that’s where the future of technology lies.