In October 2022, Sébastien joined the Sharvy adventure as CTO (Chief Technical Officer). Find out more about him, his job, and his background in this interview!
Hello Sébastien, can you introduce yourself and tell us where you come from?
Hello, my name is Seb (Sébastien is just being polite)! I’m 39 years old, have two children, and come from different places.
First born in Paris, I quickly moved to the Alps, where I spent my childhood and learned to ski in Luc Alphand’s resort (yes, that’s the little riddle of the day). Afterward, my parents and I moved to the Gard, and I took off to study in the Hérault, the Var, and finally, the Isère in engineering school. At the end of my studies, I finally decided to return and settle permanently in the Montpellier region! I found an active part close to the sea, ideal for making a home and starting my first job as a Net Developer.
What does the job of the CTO at Sharvy involve? What do you like most about it?
Before answering the question concretely, let’s recall that I started my career in the world of “Development” at a time when smartphones didn’t exist yet. However, I still coded on a PDA (ok, it’s the second riddle of the day after it’s over, I promise!).
Since then, and thanks to my different development missions on all the .net frameworks and the various positions I held in Montpellier, I have been able to evolve in other structures. In this sense, I met many competent and passionate people and learned a lot from them.
Today, the position of CTO (Chief Technical Officer) that I hold at Sharvy consists of managing and developing all the technical subjects that revolve around our products and services (car park, offices, cafeteria). As a result, I am involved in the whole development chain: from design to operation, including, of course, all the phases of analysis, organization, and management of technical, development, and validation teams.
Then, with our development team composed of Gauthier and Nicolas, we ensure the functioning and sustainability of the entire system. In particular, by making it evolve with the best choices and with the most adapted technologies according to the needs and constraints.
So what I like about this job is precisely the diversity of subjects and interactions I can have daily. Whether within the development teams or with all the departments (Marketing, Commerce, Customer Success, etc.), my days are always different! Since I joined Sharvy, I have constantly been learning, and that’s what I like.
If your days are different, can you give us an overview of a typical week as a CTO?
It’s important to remember that the tasks of a CTO vary from one company to another, especially from start-ups and SMEs to large companies.
However, a typical week as a CTO at Sharvy looks like this :
- 25% : Contribution to the functional and technical evolution strategy of Sharvy applications
- 20% : Management of environments: configuration, troubleshooting, security, monitoring.
- 20% : Technical team management: employee follow-up and recruitment, release management, and organizational development.
- 15% : Management of deliverables and deployment on test and production environments.
- 10% : Technical relations with partners and clients.
- 10% : Development.
What do you expect from this new professional adventure?
For me, this new professional adventure comes from a desire to join a structure of a more moderate size than what I have known before. I want to express myself, be myself, and invest my energy in the company’s development strategy.
Indeed, larger structures have a lot of resources, but because of the multiplication of services and processes, many constraints can slow down the daily routine and decision-making.
As a result, I would like to see direct interaction between the various departments at Sharvy! But, of course, I also want these to be based on transparency, sharing, collective intelligence, and real teamwork. This is around the subjects that drive us in an atmosphere where everyone can express themselves at ease and respectfully.
And as you can imagine, I have found what I was looking for at Sharvy!
Outside of work, what are your hobbies?
Benoît, our sales manager, will undoubtedly agree with me: when you are a parent of two children, you have several days in one. I’m lucky to have a very organized partner who manages a large part of the daily routine in the house.
So, with my little tribe, we enjoy going out on our bikes at the weekend or on holiday! We love this time when we can discover places and landscapes at a much more relaxed pace. We also enjoy traveling abroad and learning about many countries together!
For the weekly activities, I thought (wrongly!) that sport did not want me. But finally, I discovered tennis – padel three years ago, and I’ve been practicing it in a club for a year to improve my skills. I like this sport, it’s a mixture of tennis and squash, it’s only played in doubles, and it’s more about technique than strength.
Otherwise, I have other hobbies, such as working on my house (and yes, it’s an endless cycle of work in a home, I rebuilt a fence wall again on the weekend of November 1st with my father). Besides that, I also like to discover new recipes or cooking techniques. For example, I’m trying to learn how to make charcuterie myself and maybe one day cheese because I’m a fan of this (very) French product.
What is your motto, your philosophy of life?
I don’t have one, but I like to test, discover, and share.
In my daily life, the unknown scares me. However, when I overcame my apprehensions and “entered” the novel, it motivated me, and I’m glad I took the plunge. And finally, once the step is taken, I become stronger! This is my philosophy of life and what I try to keep in mind.
Finally, if you had to describe the company in 3 words, what would you say and why?
Welcoming, dynamic, and supportive.
The atmosphere is hot, the people are natural and transparent, and you feel very comfortable with the team. So you want to invest in the success of this beautiful story, Sharvy.
At the same time, I would like to highlight a moment that has marked me since my arrival. With the whole Sharvy team, we took part in the 18th edition of the ecological challenge “Ma Petite Planète” during which we had to achieve several difficulties in favor of the environment. On this occasion, we took the initiative to carry out a “cleaning” of the streets near our establishment.
This show of solidarity led to several discussions, particularly on good practices and those that could be improved. And to tell the truth, I appreciate this state of mind, which is felt both within the framework of work and outside through this type of initiative.
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