Liwen Knight-Zhang is Head of Product Platforms at News UK Technology based in London Bridge, right next door to the iconic Shard building in South London. Since managing to move a picture of Mario from left to right on his Commando 64, Liwen has never lost the satisfaction of programming. Liwen moved to the UK 18 years ago and completed his Master’s degree in Computer Science at Durham University, and has worked in the industry for over 15 years. Nowadays, although not fully hands-on at work, he still finds spare time to tinker with his Emacs setup with a bit of lisp code, alongside his Executive MBA study at Imperial College London.

Your career trajectory at News UK Tech looks very intriguing! You started as a Principal Engineer, moved to a Head of Engineering role, and now you’ve taken on the Head of Product Platforms which is business focused. Tell us more about your experience, and why the transition?

To be 100% honest, I didn’t expect such career growth from working with any company. From my role changes you can probably tell that I really have grown a lot in the last three years. If you look at the News UK technology department as a whole, you’ll see I am not an isolated case. News UK is a great place to work, learn, grow and make a difference. There has never been a shortage of career opportunities — at least in my time at News UK. These opportunities, plus the growth mindset culture, has really pushed me to move forward.

I love building teams. Engineering is what I love to do and I am really good at it. I have also been gifted with the ability to manage and build successful teams. I am fascinated with the business side of things: organisational behaviour, culture, industry trends, finance, diversity, inclusion, social responsibility and such like. Basically, I am curious about everything that I don’t know! Also, I am not one to allow a great opportunity to pass me by, so when the Head of Product Platforms role came up, right after being accepted onto an Executive MBA programme, of course I grabbed it with both hands.

What excites you working at News UK Tech?

Where do I start? I get this question fairly often when I interview engineers. My answer always starts with the technologies and the people. News UK Tech is surprisingly forward thinking (I don’t know why I said ‘surprisingly’!). The tech stacks are very current and the engineering practices are exciting. Yes, we do have legacy systems like every other organisation, but we constantly learn, improve and evolve our estate. The fact that we challenge ourselves all the time in making the right technical decisions autonomously, (with the right support of course), is something I’ve only truly experienced at News UK.

Being able to work in a great diverse team with a shared vision that unites everyone is an amazing feeling and it’s what gets me out of bed every day.

Were there any challenges?

Never having enough time! Actually, over the years I had quite a number of challenges but nothing insurmountable. Initially it was hard to build truly geo-dispersed teams. There were time differences, culture barriers and annoying, technological challenges! For example, when doing an all-team workshop, it was almost impossible to get everyone to participate equally when we have half the team members onsite and half are remote. It took us quite a while to learn the best ways to work with each other and adopt new ways of working. An added benefit was that when Covid hit we suddenly realised what we were trying to do all made sense in a world where remote working is the norm.

Also, the talent market is very tough. We probably have all heard about the ‘Great Resignation’. Luckily my team is very stable and we have only seen natural turnover — a testament of our team culture. We have had some excellent candidate referrals from our colleagues who like working for News UK tech.

The other thing worth mentioning is that we have a complex business setup, but — given the size of our estate, it comes as no surprise. This brings its own challenges for sure, but then again, it presents a lot of learning opportunities you only get when working with big organisations. I do enjoy some good challenges once in a while!

I noticed that you have done quite a few interviews and talks recently. I know you are speaking at a conference next month, how do you fit all this in your schedule?

By squeezing hard! Honestly it’s not easy but I do enjoy it. I have a couple of people in my team to thank for this. They’ve inspired me to do more personal brand building, share knowledge and experience with others and be involved in the community. One of my past colleagues is very well known in the QA community, she speaks in conferences, writes blog posts and records lectures. Two of my current Principal Engineers have books published! I wish I was more like them.

Any advice for young technologists who want to grow their career?

The first thing I’d say is be curious — it is like a super power. Keep learning, keep trying new things, be inquisitive and always strive for better. When curiosity becomes part of you, you don’t need any willpower or discipline anymore, you’ll find joy in doing all the seemingly hard work.

Another thing is to have an idea of where you want to be in 5 years time, but also try to enjoy the journey as much as you can. You’ll find there is hardly a straight path to anything in life — including career development. I have seen a lot of young people get obsessed with getting to the ‘next level’ fast but forget to give their best to the things they do every day.

Lastly, don’t forget to pick up a hobby or two, find like minded people, and have fun!

Want to join Liwen’s Engineering team? Start your journey with News UK by looking at our roles