Spotlight On: Hugo Lucas, Software Engineer and Master of Places APIs
The one thing our software engineer likes the most about working at Targomo? The possibility to be creative—even in a highly technical role.
A software engineering graduate of ENSEIRB-MATMECA in Bordeaux, France, Hugo Lucas is currently in the A-Team, where he has been looking after Targomo’s application programming interfaces (API) for the past two years. “I am mostly responsible for the Places Layers API and Places Context API (or POI service API, as we say internally) and the Location Scoring API which are written in Java,” explains Hugo. “I took part in the conception of those APIs and their further developments. It is really fascinating to witness the birth of a product and watch it grow in popularity in real time.”
For instance, back in May 2020 the Targomo engineering team participated in EIT Digital’s “Data Against Covid-19” hackathon against 19 other teams. “We developed a geospatial tool to analyze and visualize the capacities of intensive care bed units (ICU) in the face of the coronavirus pandemic,” describes Hugo. “We worked for 48 hours straight to shape a tool that was utilizing our APIs.” Another bonus? Witnessing the dedication and team spirit in action. “It was a very special moment for me,” adds Hugo. “I was able to discover a lot about how my colleagues from other teams were working.” Spoiler alert: Hugo’s team secured second place and a cash prize, which was spent on an espresso machine and a pressed sandwich maker for the entire office to enjoy.
As a small startup, aside from the shared hunger for gourmet coffee and a passion for location intelligence, the Targomo culture gives Hugo the freedom to diversify his daily to-do list and become much more confident in his abilities. “I am not only coding powerful algorithms—I am taking part in their specification, conception, testing, documentation, presentation to the users, etc.,” says Hugo. “What motivates me is that our product is based on highly proven science. It has so many practical use cases.”
Case in point: Hugo even uses Targomo in his personal life. “Six months ago, I was flat hunting in Berlin,” shares Hugo. “I used TargomoLOOP to have a quick look at the quality of the flats’ locations before asking for a viewing.”
When he’s completely off the clock, you can find Hugo hanging out on Twitter. Catch up with him at @HugoLucasBLN.