Meeting Title: Brainforge Data Engineering Interview Date: 2026-02-10 Meeting participants: Awaish Kumar, Gilbert Adjei
WEBVTT
1 00:03:20.430 ⇒ 00:03:21.570 Gilbert Adjei: Aye.
2 00:03:25.670 ⇒ 00:03:26.260 Awaish Kumar: Hello.
3 00:03:29.240 ⇒ 00:03:30.279 Gilbert Adjei: Hi, Eilash.
4 00:03:30.760 ⇒ 00:03:32.340 Awaish Kumar: Yeah, hi, how you doing?
5 00:03:32.800 ⇒ 00:03:34.360 Gilbert Adjei: I’m doing well, how are you two?
6 00:03:34.710 ⇒ 00:03:36.350 Awaish Kumar: I’m good as well.
7 00:03:36.560 ⇒ 00:03:41.040 Awaish Kumar: Yeah, yeah, I’ve got to start with some other beating.
8 00:03:43.720 ⇒ 00:03:47.359 Awaish Kumar: Which ran just a little bit longer than expected.
9 00:03:48.170 ⇒ 00:03:56.350 Awaish Kumar: But my name is Avesh Kumar, I’m leading the data engineering service at Breedforge.
10 00:03:56.510 ⇒ 00:04:05.680 Awaish Kumar: Bread Forge, like, little bit of introduction regarding Bread Forge, it is a… Dina,
11 00:04:05.830 ⇒ 00:04:13.139 Awaish Kumar: NDI consultancy company, so we provide consultancy services to multiple data companies.
12 00:04:13.700 ⇒ 00:04:16.980 Awaish Kumar: either ticket there. Like, we have multiple clients.
13 00:04:17.190 ⇒ 00:04:19.739 Awaish Kumar: Mostly the eastern type zone.
14 00:04:19.850 ⇒ 00:04:24.159 Awaish Kumar: So… And many of them are, like,
15 00:04:24.700 ⇒ 00:04:27.570 Awaish Kumar: 50 to 100 million dollar properties.
16 00:04:28.910 ⇒ 00:04:34.919 Awaish Kumar: Yeah, so basically… We are also a team of, like, now more than…
17 00:04:35.380 ⇒ 00:04:42.619 Awaish Kumar: 30 people in Brain Forge, from across, like, all from all the departments,
18 00:04:43.020 ⇒ 00:04:49.869 Awaish Kumar: Yeah, that’s, I think, briefly what BreadForge does. Yeah, you can introduce yourself.
19 00:04:51.260 ⇒ 00:05:01.130 Gilbert Adjei: Sure, that’s fine. Thank you very much for that introduction. I am Gilbert, and I am a versatile data professional with
20 00:05:01.150 ⇒ 00:05:18.609 Gilbert Adjei: Extensive experience in engineering and also in analytics. And so far, my career assignments have ranged from building data products for startups, and then also leading project teams with effective communication and teamwork.
21 00:05:18.860 ⇒ 00:05:35.000 Gilbert Adjei: And I’ve worked on numerous projects, that have leveraged ETL, EL2 techniques. And an instance of a project that I built for a client that’s leveraged all these techniques was a device financing solution.
22 00:05:35.120 ⇒ 00:05:38.159 Gilbert Adjei: So, their goal was to perform
23 00:05:38.420 ⇒ 00:05:43.220 Gilbert Adjei: Credit scoring using telecommunication data of about…
24 00:05:43.500 ⇒ 00:05:52.209 Gilbert Adjei: 80 million records, to identify profitable Customers, while minimizing risk.
25 00:05:52.360 ⇒ 00:06:11.709 Gilbert Adjei: And by so doing, the primary programming language that was used was Python, and then dbt was used for their transformation, and then also ensuring that the data coming in was fresh, it had no issues in terms of its cardinalities and things of that sort, in terms of
26 00:06:11.710 ⇒ 00:06:14.859 Gilbert Adjei: Daytime being still, or,
27 00:06:15.430 ⇒ 00:06:20.150 Gilbert Adjei: Also, the tests being written on it, and then also the…
28 00:06:20.210 ⇒ 00:06:39.759 Gilbert Adjei: to have the whole data in a more… the whole pipeline in a more consistent and isolated manner. I used Docker to handle that. And the solution, was, shown to different stakeholders, in a form of visualization, so I used Metabase as the visualization tool.
29 00:06:39.830 ⇒ 00:06:48.290 Gilbert Adjei: Now the latest experience I have, is building also, an ELT technique,
30 00:06:48.380 ⇒ 00:06:59.030 Gilbert Adjei: SME lending solution, for our clients, and it was to identify SMEs, profitable SMEs. So by SMEs, I mean small to medium.
31 00:06:59.030 ⇒ 00:07:12.800 Gilbert Adjei: scale enterprises, and then boost their cash flows by lending to them. So this solution had to ingest data from multiple sources, so I used Fivetran to handle that.
32 00:07:12.800 ⇒ 00:07:30.399 Gilbert Adjei: And then also dbt for the transformations, and in SQL. And also, I needed to present the solution in a form of visualization, so I used a metabase. And the data had to be centralized in the location, so I used Snowflake.
33 00:07:30.410 ⇒ 00:07:38.810 Gilbert Adjei: as the data warehouse, for that purpose. So, I’m very much excited about the role and want to learn more about the role.
34 00:07:39.100 ⇒ 00:07:41.149 Awaish Kumar: So where… where are you located?
35 00:07:41.710 ⇒ 00:07:43.070 Gilbert Adjei: I’m currently in Ghana.
36 00:07:44.260 ⇒ 00:07:48.119 Awaish Kumar: And, are you working full-time right now, or…
37 00:07:48.740 ⇒ 00:07:50.119 Awaish Kumar: As a freelancer.
38 00:07:50.680 ⇒ 00:07:51.390 Gilbert Adjei: Yes.
39 00:07:51.650 ⇒ 00:07:52.900 Gilbert Adjei: as a freelancer.
40 00:07:53.600 ⇒ 00:07:58.309 Awaish Kumar: Okay, so, like, what is your total work experience?
41 00:07:59.460 ⇒ 00:08:06.299 Gilbert Adjei: So I have 8 years of working experience, so, by that, I mean…
42 00:08:07.030 ⇒ 00:08:12.950 Gilbert Adjei: as a contractor, because I’m in Ghana, and I work for US clients, so, it’s more like
43 00:08:13.030 ⇒ 00:08:30.720 Gilbert Adjei: a contractor role, and then it’s full-time, but just that U.S, they have their own policies for, those residing in the U.S, like 401K and those things, which are not applicable to those who reside outside the U.S, so yes.
44 00:08:30.880 ⇒ 00:08:37.829 Awaish Kumar: Yeah, okay. And, so, what are you, like, are you working right now?
45 00:08:38.230 ⇒ 00:08:39.280 Gilbert Adjei: Yes, I am.
46 00:08:39.760 ⇒ 00:08:43.960 Awaish Kumar: On a, like, with… With, like, 40 hours.
47 00:08:44.440 ⇒ 00:08:47.320 Awaish Kumar: as… Azure engagement right now?
48 00:08:47.560 ⇒ 00:08:49.339 Gilbert Adjei: Yes. With the correct deploy.
49 00:08:49.340 ⇒ 00:08:56.170 Awaish Kumar: Okay, so… Why you… you are looking for a new… Good job you?
50 00:08:57.490 ⇒ 00:09:05.779 Gilbert Adjei: Yes, so I looked up, BrainForge, and then I looked at it, and I saw that it’s more of, data analytics.
51 00:09:05.880 ⇒ 00:09:10.179 Gilbert Adjei: consultancy firm, and then I looked at the…
52 00:09:10.300 ⇒ 00:09:17.920 Gilbert Adjei: various clients that you work with, and then I see a lot of potential in how, you make
53 00:09:18.110 ⇒ 00:09:23.870 Gilbert Adjei: Actionable insights from the data that you are able to collect with this,
54 00:09:24.600 ⇒ 00:09:31.640 Gilbert Adjei: various institutions, and I think that this is something novel. That’s the industry that’s perhaps
55 00:09:31.740 ⇒ 00:09:45.120 Gilbert Adjei: will be quite interesting to me. I have experience with fintech, I have experience with climate tech, and I think this is also a new terrain that will be quite exciting to work in and pick up new challenges as well.
56 00:09:45.900 ⇒ 00:09:51.140 Awaish Kumar: Okay, and, like, what are your… what are you looking for in your new role?
57 00:09:52.530 ⇒ 00:10:00.560 Gilbert Adjei: Okay, so in my new role, I’m looking at, picking up more challenging tasks, and then also
58 00:10:00.760 ⇒ 00:10:05.699 Gilbert Adjei: Growing my leadership skills, as well, as…
59 00:10:06.160 ⇒ 00:10:15.810 Gilbert Adjei: the weeks or months go by, and then I also look at contributing meaningfully, towards,
60 00:10:15.990 ⇒ 00:10:31.390 Gilbert Adjei: increasing the revenue of the company, which essentially is the goal, and then making sure that, yes, things are run in a more consistent and isolated manner, and I’m using best practices as well. So that’s what I’m looking out for.
61 00:10:32.710 ⇒ 00:10:35.810 Awaish Kumar: So, have you worked in a consultancy before?
62 00:10:36.590 ⇒ 00:10:37.960 Gilbert Adjei: Yes, yes.
63 00:10:38.230 ⇒ 00:10:49.380 Gilbert Adjei: So at Superfluid, why, I had to build a credit scoring solution for a telecommunication client? So…
64 00:10:49.890 ⇒ 00:10:53.150 Gilbert Adjei: We were more like a consultancy firm.
65 00:10:53.150 ⇒ 00:10:55.309 Awaish Kumar: How is that,
66 00:10:55.630 ⇒ 00:11:02.470 Awaish Kumar: How’s your experience working in a consultancy firm? Were you working only with single client, or…
67 00:11:02.630 ⇒ 00:11:06.640 Awaish Kumar: Were you context switching multiple… between multiple clients?
68 00:11:08.000 ⇒ 00:11:21.799 Gilbert Adjei: So, I was working with multiple clients, so the experience was I got to build, the credit storing solution for clients, say, A, and then I was deployed in various regions,
69 00:11:21.970 ⇒ 00:11:35.129 Gilbert Adjei: And then I had to also work with another client that needed an inside platform, right? So, DS… what they required of us was for us to build an inside platform, so I was…
70 00:11:35.390 ⇒ 00:11:38.860 Gilbert Adjei: Portion of my time was used in
71 00:11:39.280 ⇒ 00:11:46.329 Gilbert Adjei: allocated to Client A, and a portion of my time was allocated to, client B, which needed a platform.
72 00:11:46.670 ⇒ 00:11:53.289 Awaish Kumar: And what, like… Normally, we work in, like, either in Central Time Zone, or the…
73 00:11:53.520 ⇒ 00:12:00.359 Awaish Kumar: Eastern time zone, like, because most of our clients are in Eastern Time Zone, so how are you looking to…
74 00:12:00.630 ⇒ 00:12:03.140 Awaish Kumar: To work, like, what time zone do you prefer?
75 00:12:04.310 ⇒ 00:12:15.920 Gilbert Adjei: Yes, so Eastern Time Zone works, for me. In the past, I’ve been working with, clients who are also in the Eastern Time Zone, so in the U.S, so…
76 00:12:16.480 ⇒ 00:12:22.559 Gilbert Adjei: are very much comfortable with Eastern Time Zone, and I’m also open to adapting
77 00:12:22.700 ⇒ 00:12:32.539 Gilbert Adjei: sometimes what I’ve realized is, clients sometimes shift meetings to certain time zones and others, so it’s about being flexible with that as well.
78 00:12:34.820 ⇒ 00:12:44.060 Awaish Kumar: Okay, and I think, yeah, how… yeah, I just have one question.
79 00:12:44.820 ⇒ 00:12:50.529 Awaish Kumar: How would you… how would your… colleagues at your…
80 00:12:50.860 ⇒ 00:12:57.029 Awaish Kumar: Current managers or the past managers will rate you out of debt.
81 00:12:57.250 ⇒ 00:13:00.189 Awaish Kumar: if I could ask… if I asked him, like, how…
82 00:13:00.600 ⇒ 00:13:05.270 Awaish Kumar: Like, if I ask about you, right, how would they rate you?
83 00:13:07.140 ⇒ 00:13:14.500 Gilbert Adjei: I think they’ll rate me, let’s say 9 out of 10. I do have,
84 00:13:15.080 ⇒ 00:13:22.520 Gilbert Adjei: They do… they’ve left… a couple of them have left, recommendations on my LinkedIn profile.
85 00:13:22.690 ⇒ 00:13:28.150 Gilbert Adjei: And then, about 3 or more of them have shared their…
86 00:13:28.430 ⇒ 00:13:31.980 Gilbert Adjei: reviews here, so, I mean, just to…
87 00:13:32.500 ⇒ 00:13:37.520 Gilbert Adjei: So, I just pasted it here… Yeah,
88 00:13:39.600 ⇒ 00:13:43.029 Gilbert Adjei: Yeah, I just shared it in the chat, and then,
89 00:13:43.410 ⇒ 00:13:47.729 Gilbert Adjei: They have their reviews and recommendations in the…
90 00:13:47.830 ⇒ 00:13:52.010 Gilbert Adjei: So I believe that they’ll give me a very good recommendation.
91 00:13:52.390 ⇒ 00:13:55.429 Awaish Kumar: Okay, yeah, I think that’s it for my… for me.
92 00:13:55.550 ⇒ 00:13:57.640 Awaish Kumar: Do you have any questions?
93 00:13:58.890 ⇒ 00:14:04.679 Gilbert Adjei: Yes, I want to, understand from your perspective how…
94 00:14:05.560 ⇒ 00:14:23.759 Gilbert Adjei: You mentioned you are leading the engineering team at Brainforge, and then I want to understand how you envision the company’s trajectory over the coming years, and then also how it’s going to play out within this new industry that it’s working.
95 00:14:28.020 ⇒ 00:14:37.040 Awaish Kumar: The trajectory of the company, yeah, like, we are looking to exp… Expand it… Like…
96 00:14:37.410 ⇒ 00:14:43.519 Awaish Kumar: our values are, like, want to use, use AI.
97 00:14:43.870 ⇒ 00:14:51.780 Awaish Kumar: As much as possible to deliver the work, the… with the
98 00:14:52.290 ⇒ 00:14:55.349 Awaish Kumar: Like, optimally, with the people we have.
99 00:14:55.550 ⇒ 00:14:58.589 Awaish Kumar: The company’s values are, like.
100 00:14:59.000 ⇒ 00:15:08.130 Awaish Kumar: One of the value is, like, everybody eats, so everybody’s looking to also Share with everybody what
101 00:15:08.330 ⇒ 00:15:16.000 Awaish Kumar: But they aren’t, in terms of bonuses, in terms of whatever way you contribute to the company.
102 00:15:17.130 ⇒ 00:15:17.990 Awaish Kumar: Duh.
103 00:15:18.190 ⇒ 00:15:23.040 Awaish Kumar: That’s one thing, and then, like, the… and we have been, like, super…
104 00:15:23.520 ⇒ 00:15:30.679 Awaish Kumar: where, like, the company has grown super fast, like, I have joined this company also in the last one year.
105 00:15:30.810 ⇒ 00:15:38.260 Awaish Kumar: And I’ve seen it grow, and I was kind of one of the earlier hires the company.
106 00:15:39.900 ⇒ 00:15:48.839 Awaish Kumar: So, I’ve seen it grow from, like, 5-6 to 30, so, in a year. So, I’m hoping this is going to be…
107 00:15:49.150 ⇒ 00:15:58.370 Awaish Kumar: The same, like, company will be growing at the same pace for the next coming years. Also, because we are targeting, like, we are nearly targeting
108 00:15:58.870 ⇒ 00:16:03.500 Awaish Kumar: the data and AI piece, which is really hard in the market right now.
109 00:16:03.810 ⇒ 00:16:10.450 Awaish Kumar: like, Normally, people are, like, there are a lot of consultancies which do data work.
110 00:16:10.630 ⇒ 00:16:21.040 Awaish Kumar: But adopting AI, like, every… team member here works with AI. Doesn’t matter if it is an engineer, analyst…
111 00:16:21.140 ⇒ 00:16:30.400 Awaish Kumar: Sales bet, what… Someone from marketing, everybody uses… Ai tools to… accelerate their…
112 00:16:30.900 ⇒ 00:16:34.770 Awaish Kumar: their workflows, so that’s why I think
113 00:16:35.060 ⇒ 00:16:37.270 Awaish Kumar: Yeah, that’s… that’s how I see…
114 00:16:39.820 ⇒ 00:16:49.400 Gilbert Adjei: Yeah, it’s, that’s really great. It’s really great to see how things are, turning out now that we have the AI,
115 00:16:50.500 ⇒ 00:16:58.340 Gilbert Adjei: It’s really interesting. It makes people more efficient, more and more efficient, irrespective of the role that you are, so it’s really.
116 00:16:58.340 ⇒ 00:16:59.659 Awaish Kumar: Yeah, we don’t break.
117 00:16:59.760 ⇒ 00:17:06.950 Awaish Kumar: Yeah, we need someone… As a… at a senior level, who can basically think, architect, Love.
118 00:17:08.690 ⇒ 00:17:15.149 Awaish Kumar: it doesn’t necessarily execute, because, like, execution now… nowadays, mostly happening with AI, like…
119 00:17:15.210 ⇒ 00:17:16.160 Gilbert Adjei: But…
120 00:17:16.160 ⇒ 00:17:22.720 Awaish Kumar: someone who knows what’s going on, what AI is doing, is what is needed.
121 00:17:23.250 ⇒ 00:17:33.069 Awaish Kumar: We encourage everybody to use AI, but obviously, You need to know what… What… what’s happening?
122 00:17:33.410 ⇒ 00:17:35.160 Gilbert Adjei: That’s true, that’s true.
123 00:17:35.460 ⇒ 00:17:38.579 Awaish Kumar: Yeah. So, yeah, is there any other question?
124 00:17:39.130 ⇒ 00:17:42.300 Gilbert Adjei: So, I think, you’ve answered my questions.
125 00:17:44.120 ⇒ 00:17:46.739 Awaish Kumar: Okay, you know, I think we are at the time.
126 00:17:48.040 ⇒ 00:17:51.029 Awaish Kumar: It just started late, but I think it was good.
127 00:17:51.220 ⇒ 00:17:52.810 Awaish Kumar: Good to know you.
128 00:17:53.400 ⇒ 00:18:00.050 Awaish Kumar: And I will submit my feedback to Rico from operations, and he’s going to, again, contact you.
129 00:18:00.990 ⇒ 00:18:02.450 Awaish Kumar: With the next steps.
130 00:18:03.400 ⇒ 00:18:04.540 Gilbert Adjei: All right.
131 00:18:05.560 ⇒ 00:18:06.310 Awaish Kumar: Thank you.
132 00:18:06.590 ⇒ 00:18:07.780 Gilbert Adjei: Thank you very much.