This is a feature article that involves PayPay employees giving their honest opinion on why they joined, and the surprises they encountered after joining.
This time, we sat down with Shuhei Kanno from System Division, Corporate Group
Shuhei Kanno
System Division, Corporate Group
AWS Engineer. Responsible for the development and operation of in-house systems.
PayPay Inside-Out
Please tell us what you do at work.
Shuhei Kanno
The System Development Department of the System Division, to which I belong, develops in-house systems from scratch, operates them to improve work efficiency, and fully adopts AWS as its system platform.
As an AWS engineer, I am in charge of architectural studies, design, development, and subsequent operation and maintenance of internal system infrastructure according to business requirements, based on consultations from different teams. I am not exclusively in charge of a specific system but rather broadly involved in the development and operation of all the ones under the jurisdiction of the System Development Department.
PayPay Inside-Out
From where & why did you join PayPay?
Shuhei Kanno
I used to work as an IT architect/consultant at a SIer, where I oversaw DX promotion support services (implementation of public clouds such as AWS and Azure as well as basic conceptualization, design, and development support for data analysis platforms) for customers in various industries including public, corporate, and financial.
At that time, we worked on one new project after another in a relatively short span of three to six months. It was commonplace for all conditions to change for each one, including the perception of issues faced by the client, business requirements behind those issues, roles and relationships in the on-site organization, operational rules, related systems, and so on. That in itself is not a bad thing at all, but when working to resolve issues in the span of just three to six months, you need to understand all those conditions from scratch each time. That’s why projects would sometimes end before we got to the essence of improving the customer’s business, and we would feel dissatisfied, a bit like having mental indigestion.
Under such circumstances, I began to think that I would like to work for a growing company as an engineer and solve business issues as a party directly involved in them on an ongoing basis over the medium- to long-term span. As I was considering multiple career paths, I learned that PayPay, a rapidly growing company in the code payment area, was looking for an AWS engineer position, and I happened to attend a recruiting event held at the time. I found the work interesting, and most importantly, the atmosphere and personalities of the people on site were very agreeable, which was a deciding factor in my decision to try PayPay.
PayPay Inside-Out
What surprised you after joining PayPay?
Shuhei Kanno
There are many things, but the three main points that I liked about joining the company are as follows:
- The professional skills and mindset of every team member
During the selection process, I was told that PayPay is committed to hiring professionals and only hires professionals for each position, and I realized what that meant when I actually joined. Everyone is truly talented and competent in their respective fields. I think it is wonderful that they all have not just the skills but also the mindset to take their work seriously with a sense of ownership toward the common goal of further improving and expanding PayPay’s business. Also, as I felt before joining the company, everyone is very personable and very easy to work with. - Flat organization, and a culture that embraces diversity
PayPay’s organization is very flat – we have immediate contact with general managers and heads of each department, information is shared speedily, and decision-making as a company is swift. One of the things that surprised me when I joined was that Division Heads, who are company executives, immediately give feedback to all employees on the content of each week’s management meeting at regular weekly headquarters meetings. They explain the key points of the management meeting in a very easy-to-understand manner, so I can deal with my work while putting PayPay’s overall situation and goals into my own perspective. In addition, more and more mid-career hires are joining PayPay every month. I think another strength of PayPay is that by bringing together professionals from various fields with different backgrounds and values, many ideas for further accelerating PayPay’s business can be generated one after another. - High security and development speed
PayPay has extremely high security standards as a financial business, and the System Development Division works closely with the CISO Office to ensure secure system development and operation. If there is even the slightest doubt about the security aspects of system development and operation, we can immediately contact a member of the CISO office via an internal system. Since we receive answers exceptionally quickly, we can achieve both high security and development speed. Another feature of the system is the rapid and continuous detection of security vulnerabilities through the use of AWS security services and third-party security SaaS products.
PayPay Inside-Out
Are you happy having joined PayPay?
Shuhei Kanno
I am! When I first joined, there was a lot I didn’t understand, but the onboarding was more solid than I had imagined, and I was able to catch up with the work smoothly, thanks to the detailed explanations. All the team members are really nice too. I also like the fact that WFA allows for a great deal of flexibility in terms of work location and hours. I know that the work is not easy, but I enjoy the process of finding answers through daily discussions with my excellent team members.
Current job openings
*The recruitment status is current at the time of the interview.
Special Thanks：Shuhei Kanno / Editor：Keiko（PayPay Inside-Out Editorial Team）/ Translator：Language Communication Team / Translation Editor：Philline
*Employees’ affiliations are as of the time of the interview.
