Intro
Hi! I'm Romain Boulay ๐
I am currently working as Senior Software Engineer at Amazon. Originally from southern France, I live in Berlin since 2013 with my wife and two daughters.
I'm passionate about building software. After university, I started working as an intern on the development of iOS apps. This was in 2008, at almost the very beginning of the mobile revolution. I immediately loved building mobile applications.
Over the years, I have nurtured this passion and expanded my expertise in building tools that enhance developer productivity and improve the overall development experience.
In my professional career, I started to build iOS apps as a junior developer. Sometimes by myself, sometimes in small teams. In my first 4 years, I worked for two small mobile agencies in southern France. Both companies were relatively small (less than 10 people each), which allowed me to work in many different areas and learn various skills. On top of my development tasks, I could experiment with UX design, assess new technologies and prototype ideas, and even meet with some customers to sell them our products. In this period, I participated in the development of 40+ native iOS apps. This context helped me to increase my hard skills.
After this period, my wife and I decided to go for another adventure... for one year or two. This is how we landed in Berlin.
In this period, I joined larger companies. I discovered a totally different culture. First, I had to address some language challenges (I might or might not be this frenchman clichรฉ that speaks English with a strong accent...). Then, I needed to learn the various processes and ways of working. Coming from small companies, that was new to me.
In contrast with the first part of my career where I worked on many applications, I could focus on fewer projects and develop different technical skills. I increased my knowledge of software architecture, system design, best practices... This period was intense. As I was learning and growing, I was presented with more and more opportunities. Eventually, I got to lead a team of 7 people, which was a fantastic experience. These experiences also helped me to increase my management and leadership skills.
All of this brought me to SoundCloud, which I joined in April 2016 as a Senior iOS Engineer. Two years later, I was promoted as iOS Platform Lead, a technical leadership role mixed with people management tasks. My role is to lead the iOS collective, which is the group of all the 15+ Engineers who participate in the development of SoundCloud's iOS apps.
I have been challenged by all the problems that appear at scale. I have learned to define processes and to build tools (I am also a member of the tuist's core team) aiming to increase everyone's productivity. In collaboration with the collective, I also designed an architecture and an infrastructure to support our needs. While there are always new challenges to solve, it has been so far a pleasant and fulfilling experience.
After spending 5 years at SoundCloud, I made the decision to embark on a new challenge and joined Amazon. Since then, I have been fortunate to work on an unconventional system featuring direct communication between mobile devices and hardware. More recently, I have been leading subparts of the Project Kuiper initiative, which aims to provide broadband internet via satellites. In this role, I am responsible for designing solutions that streamline the development process through the implementation of code sharing techniques, ultimately reducing lead time.
In parallel with all of this, my wife and I decided to have kids. The "one or two years" Berlin experience transformed into a"well, we're pretty good here" one. Currently, my days are rhythmed by both work and family duties, and that's for the best!
To wrap it up, I'm an experienced, open-minded and passionate software engineer with a solid expertise in technical leadership and iOS app development. I have also a strong desire to boost developer experience & productivity.
If you're looking for collaboration, have interesting projects, or simply want to connect, I'd love to hear from you. Looking forward to connecting soon!