Below is an article by Expedia Group.Go to Expedia Group's company page on PowerToFly to see their open positions and learn more.
With Expedians all around the world, there are some incredible offices to see, people to meet, and stories to tell. We recently caught up with Yinqiao, who works at Expedia Group’s Shenzhen, China, office. Yinqiao joined in August 2022, and works as a Software Development Engineer in the SPX Fees & Policies team.
What is office life like in Shenzhen?
Everyone here is nice and friendly. Whenever you reach out to someone, I’ve always found that they’re more than willing to help you. We get along well with each other, just like friends, and we have regular group sports activities every week like badminton and basketball. In terms of working hours, it’s quite flexible and mostly focused on completing the tasks, and projects, when it’s required. This kind of freedom helps me to be more productive in my role, and helps me to enjoy what I do, even more.
Tell us about your team
I work in the SPX Fees & Policies team and usually I’ll work with the SPX Onboarding team & the Regulatory Solutions Engineering team. I like to work in a global company, and global team. It’s fun to have the opportunity to work with people from all over the world. And it pushes me to continuously improve my communication skills because we’re in different time zones and we’re rarely able to work at the same time. For example, if the message I leave for them during their evening time is not clear enough, or does not let them know what my purpose is, the communication process can be really inefficient, so we focus on sharing information in a simple and concise manner.
What are the main responsibilities in your role?
When our supply partners (hotels, private hosts, etc.) want to start selling their properties on Expedia Group’s various brand portfolios, they first need to onboard the properties. I mainly work on the part that relates to regulations within the property onboarding process. It’s complicated, as the regulations vary from one place to another, but it’s an engaging challenge. As I’m a front-end developer, most of the time is spent building webpages, which I really enjoy.
What project have you recently worked on?
In a recent project, I focused on partner property addresses, and what happens when the address is not valid in our system. In this particular example, we need to display messages that inform the partner that they need to update the address – it’s mainly about showing static data and is not so interactive. It’s definitely a new feature for our page, and the whole process from interface design to code implementation, were all completed by myself. It means a lot to me because I have previously been used to mostly completing work under the guidance from my colleagues, but this was one of my first experiences of completing a project independently.
What technologies do you work with?
I mainly use Typescript, React and GraphQL.
What is the proudest moment of your career at EG so far?
I would say going back to when I completed my first project by myself. It felt great being trusted, and being setup for success, by my peers. It wasn’t necessarily a ground-breaking project, but I really consider it as a milestone in my career life, without doubt. And it’s a great way to build a foundation for more complex projects in the near future.
What makes you excited about working at EG?
I personally love traveling, and Expedia Group is of course all about helping people travel around the world, building connections, and learning about new cultures – which I find very meaningful. It also helps being surrounded by supportive people in the office, and in my team.
Where did you travel to most recently? What did you enjoy about it?
A recent trip of mine was to Japan. I find Japanese culture to be so unique and amazing. The city views and natural scenery are all beautiful. While on the trip, there was a time when I was on a train, sitting by the window, looking at all the scenery I’d seen online, which was suddenly becoming reality in front of me. It was one of my best moments in 2023.
