What's it like to be a CTO at Proto? Read all about what Dilan has to say about a typical day in his role, his favourite development tools, and more.
What initially sparked your interest in becoming a developer?
I’ve always liked building things. Not just software necessarily; I also like games centered around world-building and team objectives. Building tools that solve problems is fun, and software is the most leveraged version of that. You have the most potential output for the least amount of input.
As a principal developer, can you walk us through a typical day in your role?
Since becoming the CTO, my typical day has changed a lot. It’s always changing. Broadly, the first half of my day is working with the team: sending Slack messages, talking to people, answering questions, and giving feedback. The second half of my day is typically more heads down. Usually doing feature work, squashing bugs, or reviewing code and giving feedback to the rest of the team.
Outside of work, what hobbies or interests help you unwind?
I've been getting back into exercising, especially since the weather’s been getting nice here in upstate New York. It’s getting warm and sunny out, so I’m trying to put some more energy into exercising for the sake of my health.
What are your favourite tech stacks or development tools, and why?
I’m very much a fan of the tech stack here at Proto; it’s something I’m very comfortable with, it’s very performant, and we can iterate quickly. I’m a fan of using TypeScript and React for frontend development. In terms of developer tools, some of my personal favorite tools are Warp Terminal and OrbStack.
How do you stay focused during long coding sessions?
Fortunately, I am able focus for long stretches of time naturally, so I don’t have any tips or tricks for that – but I think one thing that is useful for me is just some background noise, whether it’s music or a podcast. Some noise lets my brain cycle in the background a little bit which helps me with deep focus.
Do you have a favourite programming language? Which is it and why?
I am big fan of TypeScript because I care very much about iteration speed. The fact that I can run code on servers or browsers or mobile devices is extremely powerful. The JavaScript and TypeScript community moves really quickly, so the tooling is always improving. It’s a great ecosystem for the types of applications that we build.
What advice would you give an upcoming software engineer?
Most of coding is reading – not writing code. So what that means is that to be an effective engineer in a team, you have to always be considering the reader when contributing code.
What’s the best part about working at Proto?
We are building such a cool product. It’s a great moment to be observing the implications of AI on software, and Proto is right at the cutting edge of that. If you’re interested in technology and what the future is going to look like, there’s no way to not be interested in what we’re building here.
