Meet Our Engineering Manager: Q&A With Mohamed Hajlaoui

Helping to free the web from fraudulent traffic, or fighting fraud in general, is more meaningful than anything else I’ve done before. I also enjoy participating in resolving very complex problems.

Mohamed Hajlaoui, Engineering Manager at DataDome

‍

After two years optimizing DataDome’s world-class mobile SDKs, Mohamed now oversees the team that develops all the server-side and client-side modules that customers can integrate into their ecosystem. With ~100 apps on his track record, Mohamed was not an expert in cybersecurity before joining DataDome… but he caught up fast! Here, he shares his passion for fighting fraud, how to become a great software developer (even for those without an engineering degree), and how the right hiring practices can help protect and grow an exceptional company culture.

Q: What does your typical workday look like?

A: Every day starts with a 15-minute casual team discussion about what each of us is working on right now, what we’ll do today, any issues or blockers, or things we need to pay attention to. After that, it really depends on the day.

When I first joined DataDome as Senior Mobile Engineer, I did quite a lot of coding and code reviews. Since I started to manage the integration team, I spend more time in meetings, both customer meetings and internal meetings with other teams to synchronize. But I still do coding support, client support, and work on various types of projects.

Currently, I also spend a lot of time on hiring. I meet new candidates, explain what we expect from them, and assess how they will fit the team based on the company values and our technical requirements. The hiring process includes both a technical assessment and multiple interviews, so it’s quite time consuming, but it’s a lot of fun to meet all these new people and help grow DataDome.

One thing is certain: I never have the same day twice in a week. Things are changing fast, and there are always new customers and new challenges.

Q: How did you get into the mobile development field?

A: I have a software engineering degree, and at school I was mainly working on signal processing and embedded systems. It’s low-level software development, and you need to develop efficient programs that work on very limited devices.

When the first iPhone launched in 2007, it made a lot of sense for me to turn to mobile. Today, a smartphone is an entire universe, but at the time, they had very limited memory and processing power. We couldn’t access the device’s location, for example, not even the contact list! So the software had to be very optimized, just like for the other small embedded systems I had been working on.

I started with iOS, and with each new version of it, new capabilities were piling up. It was a lot of fun, because you have to be creative. With small screens, the real estate is limited, and you need to fit in as much information as possible by keeping the experience very simple. It’s challenging, but great fun.

Q: What brought you to DataDome and cybersecurity?

A: I was contacted by a talent acquisition manager about working for DataDome. When she presented the company and told me that DataDome protects both websites and mobile apps, I was skeptical and actually challenged her a bit.

I had spent almost ten years making apps—I have maybe a hundred apps on the App store—and security had never been a topic. Both iOS and Android are very closed systems, and very secure. It’s not like PCs, there are no viruses. Apple, in particular, has kept tight control of everything; it’s a walled garden, and security is taken for granted. So even after 10 years, security for me was basically about using good passwords.

Anyway, I accepted the interview, and was amazed by the technical expertise I found at DataDome. Cybersecurity was a rabbit hole I hadn’t really known existed, but I’m proof that you can do it even if you know nothing about it when you start!

Q: What do you see as the top trends in your field right now?

A: Web 3.0 and the metaverse are the way things are going. For the last 10 to 20 years, we have been continuously improving the digital world. We now have portable computers and smartphones with lots of processing power and an awesome user experience, but the fundamental way to communicate is always the same.

The metaverse will disrupt this way of doing things. The digital world will become much more immersive, and it may happen very fast. It will change how we work and how we interact with each other, both in good and bad ways.

This means that the metaverse will also bring new cybersecurity challenges with it. When people meet and interact, buy stuff or exchange ideas, whatever the main idea is, fraudsters will try to benefit. So there will be a real need for protection at the same level as what we do on Web 2.0 today—which means a lot of great business opportunities too, of course.

Q: How do you stay knowledgeable about trends? What are your preferred resources?

A: My best resources are the very smart and talented people I’m lucky enough to work with. Some of my colleagues have very deep knowledge about cybersecurity, some have other areas of interests and expertise, and our backgrounds are very diverse. So just by sharing a coffee or a drink with my colleagues, I almost always end up learning something new.

I also like to try out stuff, such as new programming languages, just to understand how things work. And actually, YouTube is a great resource too. You can search almost any topic you want, and you will find the information, often in very good quality videos. You can learn a lot on YouTube.

Q: What’s the best part of your job?

A: DataDome has a really noble mission. Helping to free the web from fraudulent traffic, or fighting fraud in general, is more meaningful than anything else I’ve done before.

I also enjoy participating in resolving very complex problems. It’s exciting, you don’t see the time passing, and when you find a solution, it’s extremely satisfying.

But perhaps most of all, DataDome’s company culture is amazing. It really puts people forward, and the culture of recognition is very rewarding. When a colleague sends me a high five on Slack, for example, it makes my day.

Q: What advice do you have for someone looking to break into your field?

A: Just do it! When I studied for my software engineering degree, we read a lot of theory that I ended up not really using. While it does shape your thinking and problem solving-skills a bit, it’s really not a game changer. If you’re motivated enough, you can skip all that and learn by yourself.

There’s plenty of documentation, books, and tutorials available online. If you’re motivated and curious, just try out new stuff, and you can quickly become a good developer. I know various people with different backgrounds, chemical engineering for example, who changed careers and shifted to software engineering by teaching themselves how to code.

Q: Which qualities do you look for when you hire for your team?

A: We first have a technical assessment process where the candidates must code a solution to a problem. This usually gives us enough signals to evaluate their programming and problem-solving skills, and to see how they react in stressful situations and how they handle questions they don’t know the answer to.

But most importantly, we look for the right cultural fit. A wrong hire can easily transform the atmosphere, so we look for people who are aligned with DataDome’s company values. We want motivated people who like to be challenged, who are humble and eager to learn more, and who are good at communicating and working with customers.