WeAreDelphix: Meet Brandon Chau

by Delphix on July 2, 2019

What do you do at Delphix and what inspired you to join the company?

I’m on a team that develops the replication component of our virtualization technology. I began at Delphix as a QA engineer on replication, but my responsibilities gradually expanded from driving the testing efforts for a security project to what I do today.

When I was interviewing for companies during my senior year of college, mentorship was one of the most important things I was looking for. I wanted to immerse myself into a work environment, where I would constantly be learning and growing. When I landed an interview with Delphix, the distinguishing quality of every interviewer was his or her ability to communicate effectively and with integrity. After leaving my final round of interviews from Redwood City, I realized there was a ton of growth opportunity compared to any of the other start-ups and large tech companies I was talking with at the time, and the rest, as they say, was history.

You can ask me anything about…?

Testing methodology and test planning. Planning test coverage needs to happen at the beginning of a project because without it, how could you possibly know the code works the way it should? Test engineers should always know how a feature works and make a good faith effort to break it. One metric of testing I commonly look at is how the feature interacts with other aspects of the product (interoperability).

What’s the coolest project you’ve worked on at Delphix?

The transport layer security project was one of the coolest projects I’ve worked on. It was a feature that previously had no foundation in the test engineering codebase. As a junior engineer, I had the opportunity to help design and build all of the test infrastructure and libraries collectively, which made the end result feel very rewarding!

What’s the best piece of advice you’ve ever received?

It’s more important to justify or substantiate why a point is correct rather than to just assert that it is.

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This realization came to fruition during the code review process for me, where engineers at Delphix post their work for their peers to check and give suggestions. Having your work critiqued can sometimes be viewed as personal attacks, especially if it’s over text, or lead to many disagreements. Looking at the reviewer’s justification for a suggested change has always changed my mind more than anything else. As an engineer, this has become the biggest contributing factor to my career growth.

What song instantly puts you in a good mood?

“Honolulu” by Last Dinosaurs. It reminds me of the carefree times during my childhood and is my go-to favorite song for sunny drives!

What drives you everyday?

Everyday has something different to offer. Sometimes it’s the ability to pair-program with my peers and other times, it’s getting a steaming hot cup of coffee right after it’s finished brewing. However, the most satisfying moments on the job involve gaining a deeper understanding of a subject in order to finish whatever task I might be working on. The feeling of growth I get during these “eureka” moments drives me everyday to strive for excellence.