Mobile system development

As a graduate student in the Graduate School of Education, I focused my studies on intellectual property and information education. During job hunting, I wanted a career where I could make people smile through software, so Omron Software, which develops software in multiple fields such as railway systems and mobile systems, looked very attractive to me.

After joining, I first gained experience in the FA Division with development related to factory automation. Since performance is the highest priority in embedded development, long-term waterfall development is generally considered the most suitable approach. However, because many engineers at our company were eager to adopt new methods, we also tried agile development, which had just started attracting attention at the time, repeating short-term cycles. Gaining hands-on knowledge through different development approaches has been a valuable asset for me.

After that, I moved through the Healthcare Division and then into my current division, where I have been working on Japanese input software (IME) development. Since our IME is preinstalled on most Android devices in Japan, one of the highlights of the job is being able to feel user reactions in real time from a large number of people. It makes me realize, “I’m creating something that truly helps many people in society.”

In collaboration with a company in the character business, we developed an app called “FunKey.” It includes features such as decorating the IME user interface and hearing a character’s voice when typing. When defining specifications, we frequently exchanged ideas with our partner company. The excitement of working with a company from a business field I had never engaged with before was a very different kind of experience from my past projects.

Now I am not only engaged in software development but also working as a project manager (PM). To continue growing, I want to deepen my knowledge of both engineering and the responsibilities of a PM. I believe balancing technical expertise with an understanding of software is essential to getting closer to my ideal self. My motivation for joining OMRON DIGITAL was the desire “to create something that makes people smile.” That cannot be achieved without my own personal growth. No matter how much experience I gain, I want to keep striving to improve myself, to create social needs, and to realize my dream of “creating something that makes people smile.”