Wonolo
Let’s meet Oubai!
Hi, my name is Oubai Alabbasi. I’m in Toronto, Canada and I’m a senior android developer on the Wonoloer team.
What was the first thing that caught your eye about Wonolo?
One of the first things that caught my eye about Wonolo was how friendly everyone is. I’m not talking after joining. I’m talking even during the interview process when talking to the team. Everyone was extremely friendly, transparent, and seemed to be passionate about what they were doing as a company and about their culture. All of that translated really well whenever I had any chats with anyone from the team, so now that I’ve joined, I can see why that’s the case!
What was unique about your interview process at Wonolo compared to other jobs you interviewed for?
Unlike a lot of the past interviews I’ve had where it felt more like an interrogation, the interviewers I met during my interview process with Wonolo were much more friendly and the interview felt more structured as to how you might work with some of these people solving problems rather than just a question answer set up. At the same time, one of the most unique parts of the interview was the Tao interview where it showed how well maintained the culture is internally. Even as a young company, Wonolo focuses on hiring people that fit into the culture and can help Wonolo become a better place. In the Tao interview, I met people from different departments that I am unlikely to meet within a normal setting. But at the same time, they asked me questions where they made sure that I fit their culture. They also allowed me the opportunity to ask about their culture to make sure that the culture at Wonolo really fit what I’m looking for too. That was nice to have and something I hope more companies would have in the future.
What made you decide to join Wonolo?
Whenever I’m looking into joining a company, I really care that my work would help people and create a positive impact. I joined Wonolo during Covid, which was a time where a lot of people’s jobs were impacted and Wonolo was in a perfect position to help them. Wonolo not only helps people to find work around them, it also is working on helping people get better jobs and better pay that’s more than just the minimum wage, a more livable wage. That part really resonated with me. It was one of the main reasons I joined, and it goes beyond just their services or the platform itself. Even the culture and the people feel passionate about this. Beyond that, during Covid, many companies had to switch to remote work and that ended up impacting a lot of cultures negatively, but not at Wonolo. If anything, the culture at Wonolo became better and more transparent than a lot of companies I worked with in the past. There were a lot of factors for the reasons why I joined, but helping people and having a great culture were major factors on why I decided Wonolo was right for me.
What are you passionate about outside of work?
I enjoy making stuff and that’s anything from DIY, 3D printing, woodworking, or helping family and friends in DIY work, renovation, and construction work. Pretty much anything that has to do with working with my hands. I also enjoy cooking and trying out new recipes/ cuisines. I’m a big fan of team sports, so playing football, basketball, and other team-based sports whenever that’s possible, which with Covid times hasn’t been as easy.
