LINE Careers

About work

Q Please give us a brief introduction to what it’s like working on camera feature development.

I’m in charge of developing the parts of the camera app that handle media features, like images and videos, for the iOS version of the LINE Messenger. Simply put, my job is to develop media-related features, like taking pictures with the LINE app camera or applying filters and adding text to videos. It is difficult to make bold improvements every time as the various features are developed in collaboration with other engineers and are intricately linked to each other. What I usually do is add features to the existing screen, such as adding a mosaic feature to the editor or a GIF shooting feature to the camera. However, since the client-side development is directly exposed to users, it is important to track the latest trends. We also work on improving the existing screen in its entirety every year or two and we are responsible for refactoring. Even now, one of my teammates is working on improving our video player, and, not long ago, we changed the camera feature as well as the editor. Also, since we have a two-week release cycle, we are less constrained by our schedule. Certainly, we do respond quickly to features that require immediate releases (for instance, seasonal events or responding to new iOS versions), but for other features, we feel less of a burden about postponing a release until the next version if we’re not satisfied with the quality of an improvement.

Q Do you have any special considerations for features used globally?

The camera feature of LINE Messenger looks the same by default no matter where it is downloaded or used. As this feature affects many users, we put more care into developing it. We also consider differences in the environment and interface for different countries and cultures. As some countries have relatively strict security policies, we sometimes have to customize procedures and features to comply with such policies. Also, some countries offer less stable internet connections and large number of users who rely on low-end mobile phones, so we must pay attention to even the smallest of errors that may arise. As for the planning aspect of features, we receive a lot of help from product planners who are familiar with the details of different countries.

Challenges and failures

What do you need for success?

Q What kind of competencies do you believe you need to perform your work well?

To sum it up into three things, I believe that you need to be good at communicating and collaborating, at reading and writing code, and at thinking and contemplating over details. First, I believe that communication is the most fundamental competency because everything we develop requires communicating with others in related areas. Plus, I should be able to express my opinions clearly and directly about the feature that I’m working on. LINE has an environment that offers many opportunities for engineers who actively express their opinions, with a very “horizontal” culture. If you work on the projects you are interested in, it will help with both personal growth and service quality. In addition, it’s important to be able to accept the opinions of the people you’re working with. When I communicate frequently with others, I often easily find unexpected bugs and issues. Therefore, I believe that we need to communicate well in order to work well and improve. Next is coding ability, both writing and reading. In collaborating with other engineers, there is a culture of code review, reading and giving feedback. That’s why it is important for other engineers to have the capability to write their code in an easily readable manner, and it is also important for them to be able to read and rapidly understand and learn other people's code. As the saying goes among engineers, language is only a tool, and I believe that it is very helpful for a person’s development to be capable of clearly understanding code written in other languages. Last, but not least, people need to be able to think and contemplate over details. I believe that a habit of deep thinking, looking to add a degree of completeness to any feature being developed, is an important part of growing into a better engineer. When the basic code to a piece of software is written, the feature may run fine, but it is still important to continue refining the code, such as adding a little animation to it. When it comes to the LINE STYLE, I particularly like “Perfect Details” and I constantly check people’s feedback at the App Store to look for ways to provide users with a slightly better experience and improve usability.

Special experiences at LINE

Q Have you had any particular surprises or memorable moments at LINE?

I really believe that LINE offers the ideal culture and environment for me to grow as a engineer. This is an environment where, when you suggest ways to develop in a field that interests you, you get the opportunity to work on that. It is also an environment that allows engineers to focus on creating their own features without being burdened by a lot of extraneous paperwork, like other companies. It is also a significant advantage to have so many talented engineers around you, and being a part of a culture of talented engineers helping each other contributes greatly toward individual growth. Each engineer has a different style, so you can learn so much just from reading the code of other LINERs. Everyone here is eager to get better, which makes for an atmosphere where people quickly learn to apply new technologies. Swift conversion would be a good example. If you are a engineer, you already know that the larger the code base, the harder it is to change the existing code. I thought LINE would also be slow to convert from Objective-C to Swift. Contrary to my expectations, though, a majority of LINERs were on board to use Swift, and over 70%, have made the switch to Swift so far. Whenever new features are announced at Apple's WWDC, the Early Bird TF works hard to rapidly apply them and stay ahead of the trends.

Q Is there anything about the culture of LINE that you’d like people to know?

In terms of the day-to-day, what I like the best is that I am free to shape my working hours. For instance, I find it difficult to concentrate in the morning, so I spend my mornings exercising and usually arrive at work around 11 am or noon. I work for a while, have lunch, and then really dive into my work. I particularly like that I don't have to explain myself or change to fit others’ way of working. As for an especially positive experience, what comes to mind is the time I went to the WWDC, an event that any iOS engineer would love to attend. It is an awfully expensive event, but the company paid all the expenses, like the event ticket, airfare, and accommodations, so I had nothing to worry about and could just enjoy the event. Each booth with “lab” in its name had the engineers who had helped create each feature, allowing me to get their opinions on any of my questions. It was amazing to be able to share my thoughts with leading engineers in the fields I’m most interested in.

Wrap-up