Q&A: Meet our lead developer Lee Butts

Lee was the first Mahi employee and is our resident petrol head. Heading up the Christchurch development team, he has over 15 years of software development experience since graduating from Canterbury University with an honours degree in Computer Science.

What’s a typical day for you?

A varying mixture of production support, mentoring and new feature development, broken up by a run around Hagley Park, Christchurch.

What did you want to be when you grew up? Did that influence where you are today?

The first thing I can remember was wanting to be a fighter pilot, but I soon realised that New Zealand’s air force was not going to be like Top Gun. My interest in technology was also there from a young age when we got our first DOS computer so that has always been a strong influence.

As employee number 1, what are the main changes you have seen?

So much has happened during the last 10 years! The company has changed focus from retail platform to technology provider, there’s a whole new world outside of traditional FX for people to trade (Cryptos, CFDs etc). One thing that does surprise me is that a lot of the core of our systems are still there from 2010/2011. I think that shows the awesome base we have been able to build on over 10 years of development.

What qualifications would someone pursuing a career in fintech need?

I think you can choose from a few different paths - a computer science based qualification if heading down the development path but there’s also great options for mathematical and statistical backgrounds in the analytics and data science areas.

What sort of stuff do you get up to when you’re not working?

I’ve got a pretty bad running addiction, which I try to fit around the commitments of a young family (although my wife would probably say it’s the other way around!)

When it comes to Mahi’s products and making improvements, what sort of process do you follow?

We make the best improvements when we work closely with our customers to focus on the pain points in the business and daily operations. We leverage our small, agile size as a company to deliver those improvements quickly.

What do you think makes MahiFX’s products so unique?

I think the most unique feature that comes with our technology is the depth and breadth of experience and support from the team. It is much more of a partnership than just a traditional software purchase when someone chooses to work with us.

In your opinion, what’s the best feature, and what are you most proud of?

I think the best feature is how configurable the system is. This comes from the maturity in the software and the experience we have with so many different business environments and constraints. It’s a double-edged sword as it can introduce complexity but our recent focus on UX around the system configuration is making this a much easier area to navigate.

How do you build a product that constantly needs to adapt?

Automating as much as possible is key, you need good automated regression test coverage and well structured code that allows you make changes without fear of introducing problems.

Finally, any exciting/interesting technology you think people should watch out for?

Cryptos are obviously a hugely interesting (and entertaining) area. It will be exciting to see what happens with our technology in that field and adapt to new changes!