With a B.S in Computer Science from California State University, Fullerton and over 5 years experience in the IT industry, hiring Danial Mohammad was a great move by SetSchedule. What started as an open position for a .net developer ended with a well-earned Director of Engineering title within less than 4 years. 

Before joining SetSchedule, Danial worked within general IT support as well as UI and app development. This allowed him to build a very well-rounded background to pull from when it came time to step into his new director role. With his guidance and expertise, SetSchedule has been able to broaden its focus from providing real estate agent specific services to developing tools that appeal to a broader base of professionals.  

Thanks to his role at SetSchedule, Danial is in charge of a whole team of international contractors, regularly interacts with C-level executives, and is one of the key people tasked with making sure all new tech development carefully aligns with the company’s goals and vision.

We wanted to get to know a bit more about his background, his internal development process, and the work he’s done for SetSchedule specifically. Keep reading to see what we found out!

You’ve mentioned in previous interviews that gaming played a pretty big role in your choice to become an engineer during your youth. What exactly about it made you decide that this was the path for you, and was your idea of what engineering was back then the reality of what you do today?

Gaming definitely drew me to engineering, which I think is the case for most of my friends as well. When I was younger, my love of gaming inspired me to build my first computer from components I personally selected. It was an amazing experience because, even though it was my first time building a computer on my own, I got my rig up and running basically by myself! 

This solidified my passion and pushed me to enroll in my first ever programming course in high school. From then on I was hooked! As much as I would like to say I knew what I was getting into, I only had a vague idea of engineering before I jumped into it. But I’ve loved every minute of it so far. 

Can you tell us a bit about how your personal process is like when you’re taking on a new project? Do you have any tricks that you find yourself repeating with each development process that you find work really well for you?

Working as the Director of Engineering at SetSchedule, I work on some of the most complicated and technical projects in the company - that means that as soon as I gain knowledge of a new project, I need to set a foundation of understanding the vision of the product before even starting. The most important question is: how would a user benefit from developing this? I use this question as a thought experiment, but also as a way to make sure that the team doesn't deviate from SetSchedule’s core company values. There needs to be value added in some way - someone needs to benefit from what we’re building! Once that question is checked off, there are a couple of other questions I go through. Is there something that we have already worked on that is similar to the functionality that is being requested? Which teams am I going to need to communicate with to complete this project? This allows me to create a project plan and we get to work. One of my favorite tricks in the process has been reviewing other projects and development processes we’ve started or completed in the past and seeing if they overlap with our new needs. 

Is there a particular project you worked on at SetSchedule that you’re very proud of? What made it so special for you?

There definitely is - earlier last year we rolled out the SetConnect ecosystem - our virtual assistant Jessica nurtures prospects in real time, creating a SetHello audio/video room for the prospects that are ready to speak with an agent now. I’m particularly proud of this project because I remember constantly putting myself in the clients shoes and having to think through some pretty complicated scenarios to make sure the system could handle them correctly. On top of that, the system is intuitive and gives the home shopper different options for connecting. 

Knowing that this system has been able to help thousands of home shoppers get in touch with local agents and information they need without needing to meet in person makes this one of my favorite projects by far.

What’s it like having to manage a team of contractors spread across different countries and time zones? Communication is probably one of them, but were there any challenges you found that you really weren’t expecting to face? How have you been able to address them?

There’s never a dull moment, I can tell you that! Working with our team members around the globe is both challenging and rewarding. I’m pretty sure that during the week there is at least 1 developer somewhere in the world working on SetSchedule projects, no matter the time of day. Communication and perceived distance are the biggest challenges we encounter, but that’s why I stress to my team the importance of reaching out and closing the gap through virtual team buildings. Outside of the distance issue, the other challenge that we keep in mind is the potential for confusion since our contractors don’t sit in the office with us. We address this by cross-referencing the necessary information the developer will need to complete the project, and making sure that knowledge is transferred over whether it be in the ticket the developer receives, an annotation or alternative explanation included in the documentation, or even just asking “does that all make sense” and getting a high-level summary repeated back to confirm there’s no ambiguity in the project. 

You’ve now been with SetSchedule for around 3 years or so. That’s a great amount of time to familiarize yourself with the company culture, and what type of people will fit in within both your team and the organization. What are 3 things you look for today when hiring engineers for SetSchedule?

First and foremost, I look at the way the engineer communicates with me or others, whether it’s through their writing, phone call, or in person interview. There’s not a lot of room for big egos in our team - that’s the kind of thing that can stagnate development for even the best managed dev teams. We cultivate a laidback and collaborative environment, and communication is a big component to that. That doesn’t mean we don’t have more reserved devs we work with, but in the vetting process I still confirm that they won’t shut down or stop communicating. 

Outside of that, familiarity with coding is definitely a requirement - you can be the coolest person on the planet, but if we’re in an engineering interview and you’re not able to explain concepts you should be familiar with based on the experience listed on your application, you probably won’t be a good fit. 

Dedication and growth motivation also play a huge role in the hiring process - we look for people who can contribute to the vision and mission behind SetSchedule. We want developers who will give feedback, ask for clarification, and push their passion into their coding and into the company. That’s how we maintain such a strong company culture. 

Where do you see yourself in the next 3-5 years now that you’ve reached the Director title within your career?

The Moon! Or at least somewhere close based on the exciting projects and systems we’ve got in the planning stage. 

My focus for now is building out even more robust teams because SetSchedule has so many different avenues for growth and tools to develop, there just aren’t enough hours in the day for us to work on every project that we want to. And there are many more projects we’re currently developing I’m excited to release later this year.The more that we have worked with real estate professionals, the more we have identified an overarching need for tools across all industries. So, in 3 to 5 years I see us having expanded our scope to service professionals from all industries. At that time, I’ll be overseeing multiple different product teams and leading them in the release of elegant tools to overcome common issues, like the Referral Radar does for lead acquisition, the SetConnect system does for lead connection, and the Community aspect will for professionals in the home industry. 

One of the biggest things you deal with when you’re in higher managerial positions is using your soft skills. Things like conflict resolution, communication skills, and learning how to guide people. Any tips for someone just starting to make use of these skills at a larger scale like you are?

Your engineers, and anyone you interact with, should be treated with respect! That’s the base that I start from, and it is something that I always keep in mind. Deadlines, unforeseen issues, and bugs/blockers make development hard enough without needing to worry about ineffective management. So, I make sure to listen actively and practice empathy when my team members share concerns with me. 

Active listening is important when you act as a leader - ultimately, I want to make sure that I delegate different tasks and responsibilities to get the project done in the best way possible. Knowing my developers’ strengths and weaknesses, as well as their preferred communication style, is imperative information - it’s what allows me to make the right calls with my team. You cannot get to that point unless you get to know your team members and check in with them regularly. Fostering better communication and relationships within your team should always be your focus as a manager.