A day in the life of Li Zhen Low, Product Manager at HeyTrade

As a product manager, Li Zhen Low possesses a unique and refreshing combination of humility and eagerness. She calls herself a ‘pessimist’ with ‘worst case scenario tendencies’, but those who work with her know that she infuses passion and confidence into everything she does. We had a chat with Li to find out what makes her tick, her favorite moments as a HeyTrader and her secret to being productive (hint: it is all about focus).

What is your day-to-day life like at HeyTrade?

I have been fortunate enough to play different roles everyday – decision maker, team player, leader, customer… As a Product Manager, I see myself as a ‘goalkeeper’ for the Engineers. I have to balance the awesome magic we want to deliver to our Customers while keeping our productivity at an optimum level. We receive lots of feedback from various channels (all quite good to be honest) but we have to balance the value each request could bring to the business in both the short and long term. All while prioritising against current resources and respecting the Roadmap as much as possible. Every retro we have done is proof of how effective each day at HeyTrade has been.

Why did you join HeyTrade?

The attitude and the potential. We are aligned in terms of wanting to make as much magic as possible without compromising on quality. Quality is and will always be a top priority, I need to be in a company that respects that. HeyTrade has a healthy mix of respecting the business, its employees and the technology. Being too skewed on any end of the spectrum could result in unhappiness and instability in the company. Therefore prior to joining, I asked about the feedback practice in HeyTrade. My 2 cents worth – happy employees make a healthy and rewarding environment.

What has been your favorite moment at work?

It would be when we were very first made available in the official app stores for both iOS and Android. It was such a huge achievement and that was a moment of realisation that we are starting to deliver all the exciting features we have on the roadmap.

Which word best describes the way you approach work?

Humility.

In what sense?

We all have different roles to play and it is important to maintain that. At the end of the day, we are all one team and should complement each other.

What would you like to achieve in HeyTrade?

More organisation. A little bit of chaos is inevitable at the beginning but it is being controlled and we have good practices in place to improve overall.

Product-wise, we are just starting to build what would have been my wildest dreams just a few months back. There are simply too many features we want to deliver and I cannot possibly list them all here. Other than being the first app in Spain delivering awesome features, I would like for us to be able to execute and deliver features that could bring our Customers much more value, making their trading experience more seamless and efficient.

Business-wise, I hope we can continue to grow at a healthy rate to execute as much as we possibly can.

“You want to be productive? You focus and BE productive, it is that simple.”

How has working at HeyTrade changed you?

Where do I start? I feel valued, confident and so proud of being part of a team like HeyTrade. As a professional, I have to deliver things I originally did not think we could (yes, I am aware I probably fall in the ‘pessimistic’ end of the spectrum), but the team has constantly surprised me and proved my worst-case scenario tendencies wrong and outperformed. Huge kudos to them!

As an individual, the flexibility has allowed me to expand my personal interests. I have achieved a lot of personal growth within a few months, which is only possible due to the support and understanding the company provides.

Finally, any productivity tips you would like to share?

Time management:There is a time for everything. Compartmentalize and put on different hats where necessary. Time is unfortunately a limited resource that we cannot recreate in today’s world. How we are choosing to spend and use it has to be carefully evaluated. It can take a lot of practise and mistakes, but everything will always have a good cause if you look at it from a different perspective. If you do not see any good cause, you are probably viewing things from an incorrect angle.

Also, adopting the right mindset. Most of the time, we probably have a limited view of ‘reality’. It is important to be aware of that and all of us are capable of all the amazing things we want to achieve. And all we have to do really is to just get after it. No excuses, and just do it. You want to be productive? You focus and BE productive, it is that simple.

Thanks Li!

We are hiring! If you want to join Li and help build HeyTrade, check out the Careers section and follow us on LinkedIn.