Thoughtworker Spotlight: Peter Chow-Wah

Meet Peter Chow-Wah, a versatile Senior Software Engineer who not only builds better products but weaves his expertise into sharing software development best practices that drive teams forward. From machine learning to cloud migration experiences, discover how his interest in video games, computer hardware, and software research and development led him to Thoughtworks. 

You can also find Peter enjoying the outdoors, with the Canadian Rockies being his backyard. From taking picturesque hikes, a quick bike through the park or exploring what Banff has to offer, he is always on the move. Plus, Peter’s house is powered up with home projects and new tech. 

But with great power comes great responsibility, so whether he is outdoors or inside, his trusty favourite product is always there to accompany him while helping him stay present in the moment. Can you guess what it might be? Find out this and much more in this week’s Thoughtworker Spotlight. 

Tell us about what you do in 50 words or less

Officially, I’m a Senior Software Engineer by title, but what I tend to do daily is a bit more than just building our clients’ software products. As partners with our clients, I also consult on software development practices that can improve team effectiveness while also looking for product opportunities that can positively impact their users’ experience. 

What’s the most interesting challenge you're working on?

I’m currently working with a team to build a “no-code” platform for their users, allowing them to design, build, and deploy chatbots directly from the UI. Previously, users would require lots of engineering support to build their own bots from scratch using the available APIs.

This platform and the metaprogramming we’re trying to build for is an intriguing software space that I haven’t had much exposure to (outside of theory), but the problems we’re solving should enable non-technical users to build things that would have otherwise been restricted to them.

What inspired you to have the career you have today? 

I initially went to school for Computer Engineering because I was interested not just in video games, but computer hardware and how the electronic components were built and designed to enable these experiences. The “full-stack” of the computer if you will. 

What I found during my studies and internships was that I had more of an interest in software research and development. Working at Thoughtworks has been great for satisfying both my curiosity and career goals, as I have the opportunity to work on a wide range of technologies across various industries.

What achievement are you most proud of in your career to date?

That’s a really difficult question for me to answer. I’ve been involved in so many interesting projects during my career that I’m quite proud of each of them. 

One of the early highlights and most public-facing projects has got to be our work with Bose building a high-scale messaging service and testing framework in Kubernetes (which we shared out at Kubecon)!

But since then I’ve gotten the chance to work with: 

• a digital community platform company performing a non-trivial cloud platform migration for future scalability

• a property management software company to build a digitized onboarding and billing solution for their customers

• a leading automotive manufacturer automotive company building a machine learning pipeline for their data scientists to prototype and proactively deliver insights to consumers; and 

• a connected fitness company, delivering new features and enhancements to their production teams’ tooling to improve their ability to record and release content

All of these experiences had incredibly interesting problems to solve, with lots of solutions that I’m proud to have collaborated with their teams on.

If you could go back in time and give yourself career advice, what would it be? 

Don’t be afraid to ask questions! It’s something I admittedly still struggle with now but especially earlier in my career - I’d be so worried about asking a silly or obvious question that I often ended up not asking anything. 

I’d then end up taking additional time to independently figure it out myself or dive down a rabbit hole that didn’t need digging if I had just asked the team. I’ve realized now that not only could you save time or clear up confusion for other team members, but sometimes the simple questions can also be the most revealing because they can challenge your initial assumptions or reveal details that would have otherwise been overlooked. 

What do you love to do outside of work?

I still enjoy playing video games in my spare time but much less so than when I was first inspired to pursue this career. With the Canadian Rockies so close to home, it’s hard not to justify going outdoors to enjoy all that nature has to offer. 

Be it a picturesque hike in Kananaskis, a quick bike through the park, or even a drive through to Banff. When the weather is otherwise not too friendly for touching grass, I’ll work on some side projects at home to try things out and play with new tech.

If you were stuck on a deserted island, what album, movie, and book would you take with you?

Album - I’m not much of a music album listener since I tend to pick up on artists and their singles or hits through the radio. 

That said, I have a bit of a soft spot for System of a Down from my teenage years and feel that they’re worth a namedrop. But for this situation, I’d pick Bo Burnham’s Inside since I think it’d be apt for the isolation but ironic.

Movie - Oppenheimer. Huge fan of pretty much everything about the biopic and the man’s story, and it’s pretty good at helping me to breeze through 3 hours. Also, I suspect I wouldn’t experience as much nuclear-related existential dread on a deserted island after each watchthrough.

Book - I read quite a bit of non-fiction to help develop my skills or learn something new. So they’re not especially exciting or entertaining. Following that, I’d probably want to take something practical - a survival guidebook of sorts so I can…survive on this hypothetical island. 

Otherwise, If I were to pick a fictional book, I’d probably go for The Lord of the Rings series to give it another chance. I tried reading it as a preteen when the movies came out, but admittedly I didn’t have the patience or reading comprehension skills to appreciate it as much as I likely would now.

And finally, what’s your favorite product and why?

My Garmin Forerunner 965. I’m pretty new to the smartwatch game, but seeing the Pixel watch got me interested in the market. Initially, I was focused on that product, but during my search, I realized I was actually looking for a minimally connected but fully-featured fitness tracker. 

The Forerunner 965 has fulfilled my needs and then some. It allows me to receive and acknowledge the most pressing notifications whenever I’m busy with my hands or away from my phone, without becoming a distraction. The built-in GPS has been super helpful for planning and navigating backcountry hikes, and the fitness data and Insights that the Garmin Connect App gives you access to (without a subscription!) are incredible. 

And how they manage to provide all of this on a 15+ day battery life is black magic to me.