Lilt Labs | Bridging Translation Research and Practice

Liltonian Spotlight: Meet Miles Tester, Senior Software Engineer

Written by Elly Lee | April, 8, 2022

Last year, we started a series highlighting the amazing Lilt employees (or Liltonians, as we like to call ourselves). We’re excited to continue that series this year with some of our team members helping to pave the way for a multilingual global future. Get to know more about the faces behind the work, their backgrounds, what makes them tick, and what makes Lilt the place for them.

Meet Miles Tester, a Senior Software Engineer building and optimizing Lilt's technical localization services for our customers' global experiences. We sat down with Miles to learn more about his background, his experiences at Lilt, and what he does to recharge outside of work.

 

What's your role at Lilt, and what does your day to day look like?

I’m a Software Engineer here at Lilt. My average day-to-day is pretty varied but generally involves: reviewing code from colleagues, problem-solving and coding for new product features, and working with the team to define and plan upcoming work.

 

What is/was your favorite project to work on at Lilt and why?

So far it’s been finishing the migration from Angular to React. It’s really rewarding to be able to reduce technical debt while also having a positive impact on the end-user.

 

What led you to join Lilt?

Having moved to Germany without knowing any German, I faced the difficulties of untranslated services/websites first-hand. Lilt's goal of making information accessible in every language resonated with me, because I'm actually one of the people who gain so much from Lilt’s technology.

 

Describe life at Lilt in three words.

Challenging, Fulfilling, Camaraderie.

With technology being at the forefront of global experiences, our team plays a large role in shaping how customers engage with our platform and services. Not to mention, Lilt is extremely collaborative and is filled with talented people who are passionate about our mission. 

 

What is your "happy place" outside of work? What do you like to do for fun?

I'm happiest whenever I get the chance to visit a new place or country and experience new things. It's always so fun and interesting to learn about different cultures and explore - even if you don't know the language firsthand!

 

What Lilt value do you resonate with the most? (Toughness, Humility, Quickness, and Meticulousness)

Toughness. For me, even when you fail or something doesn’t go as expected, it’s an opportunity to try to learn from it — to be tough and move forward. There are always challenges when trying to solve big problems in the world (like we're doing here at Lilt), but taking the time to learn from obstacles only makes the work more fun and the end-product more impactful.

 

If you could learn to speak any language(s), what would it be and why?

Mandarin. I’ve always wanted to speak Mandarin, but tried and failed to learn it at university. It would be awesome to go back and try to learn it again.

Thanks for chatting, Miles! Want to join our growing team and help build the future of global experience? We’d love to talk to you if so. Check out our careers page to find the right role for you and learn more about how you can get involved.