07 Feb The Joy of Sparking New Discoveries and Insights: How a Project Management Engineer Experiences Yaraku’s Unique Culture

“Yaraku-Jin (やらく人)”, a series of articles that unravels Yaraku and YarakuZen by focusing on the “people (人) ” surrounding Yaraku, introduces Shin Sugiyama, who is in charge of new project management. 

Yaraku-Jin ＜VOL.14＞

Yaraku, Inc. New Project Management

Shin Sugiyama

Could you tell us about what you were doing before you joined Yaraku?

I joined Nintendo as a new graduate and was involved in the development of the “Wii” and “Switch”. After working for about 14 years, I went independent as a freelance hardware engineer. Around that time, a former colleague from Nintendo who was involved in Yaraku’s business planning introduced me to the new project development.

What is your current job at Yaraku?

I work on deciding the concepts and directions for new projects. Although my title is an engineer, I also make experimental software and prototypes. We decide on the concepts and directions by actually creating things, even partially.

What gives you a sense of accomplishment?

My job includes creating prototypes and proposing them to people, as well as pointing out the current issues that YarakuZen is facing. But rather than changing the way things are done just because I said so, I feel rewarded when someone involved gains new insights or comes up with different ideas because of my prototypes or feedback.

What made you decide to become an engineer?

I simply liked working with computers. I studied in the electronic engineering department at university, which involved using and creating ICs, but I was originally interested in computers since I was little. My father liked new things, so we were one of the rare families with an early computer at home. It was the 80s, so around 40 years ago. Having had the opportunity to interact with such things since I was a child had a big impact on me. My dad is an engineer, so that also influenced me.

What kind of work do you usually do outside of Yaraku?

On a daily basis, I help other companies and prepare to start my own business.

You currently work as a freelance engineer. Do you find any aspects of freelancing difficult?

I feel like freelancing is almost mental training. I feel that having set working hours at companies and class schedules at school was really important. So, I try to live as stoically as possible. I get up at 4am and go to bed at 9pm. If I don’t go to bed early, I’d end up doing all-nighters playing games or watching Netflix. By doing my work and studying in the morning, I can do important things while I have the most energy, even on days when I’m helping out another company as a freelancer.

Do you have days off?

As a freelancer, every day is kind of both a holiday and a workday and it’s all up to my discretion. It’s one of the difficult aspects. It’s easy to slack off, take more breaks, which is why deadlines are crucial to motivate action. Associating with people naturally creates deadlines, so even as a freelancer, I try to interact with others and create deadlines to avoid slacking.

From your perspective, working with various companies, what kind of company do you think Yaraku is?

When you’re involved with various startups,  you can really see the personality of each president through the culture. Yaraku operates well even with Sakanishi-san (CEO) living in the Netherlands. He has both a strong will and flexible thinking, and I think that’s what gives Yaraku its unique culture.

How do you perceive Yaraku at the moment?

While the overall structure of YarakuZen hasn’t drastically changed, the technological trends in the world have been shifting significantly. Technologically, AI is aiming for practical application, and its technological capabilities are improving rapidly day by day. I believe that figuring out how to respond to this is key for YarakuZen. It’s not about how Yaraku has changed compared to before, but I feel that Yaraku must keep evolving within this trend. The engineers do keep this in mind, and we have many members proficient in AI and machine learning. So, I’m excited because I think Yaraku will continue to change and evolve.