Interview with Edmund-??#OnTheTeam Spotlight??

Can you introduce yourself, your name and what you do at OnTheList?

I’m Edmund, a Full-Stack Developer at OnTheList. I’ve been with the company for almost six years, having joined in 2018.

Can you tell us a little bit about your journey at OnTheList? You started as a part-timer on the floor—how did you get from there to where you are now?

Back in 2018, a friend told me that OnTheList was recruiting part-timers to work in the store. I started in June that year. At the time, the company was still in its startup phase, so in addition to my part-time duties, I helped with technical tasks since we didn’t have a dedicated IT team yet.

The management team noticed my technical skills, and after a year, I became a full-time employee when a position opened on the floor team. After six months as a full-time Sales Assistant, I transferred to the Customer Service team because I was looking for an office role. The workdays were more structured, and I didn’t have to work on holidays or weekends.

Since I was already familiar with the company and its business model, I was able to onboard quickly in the Customer Service team. During my time there, I learned a lot about communicating with customers, resolving complaints, and ensuring issues were addressed effectively.

After about a year, the Hong Kong General Manager informed me of an opening in the IT team as IT Support and asked if I was interested. That opportunity allowed me to work under Kirk, who is still my manager today. A year later, Kirk promoted me to System Engineer, and about a year ago, I was promoted again to my current role as a Full-Stack Developer.

Throughout your time at OnTheList, you’ve taken on more technical roles. Did you have to do any training or courses to prepare for them?

Yes, I’ve done a lot of training. During my time in Customer Service, we already had an IT team, but it was much smaller, and they were busy setting up the tools we now use daily. While I didn’t work directly with IT, I took the initiative to teach myself SQL. Learning to write queries helped me in my Customer Service role and prepared me for my transition to the IT team.

When I joined the IT team, I had some programming knowledge, but it wasn’t enough for daily use. I began self-learning, researching how to write programs. The first program I wrote was the Stock Take app (used by all our teams to receive and count stock), and I’m still improving and maintaining it today.

In addition to self-learning, I completed a programming course during my second year on the IT team, which significantly boosted my skills.

Out of all the OnTheList values, which one do you identify with the most, and why?

I would say: Sustainability is driven by positive impact??

Because of the different roles I’ve had at OnTheList, I’ve seen the positive impact the company has on sustainability. For example, I’ve witnessed the large volumes of stock we’ve sold that could have otherwise ended up in landfills. By offering these items at reduced prices, we make them accessible to customers who might not buy them at full price, preventing waste.

A particularly memorable moment for me was during my time on the floor team when we donated two 5.5-ton trucks of unsold products to various charities. I was part of the team handling the deliveries, and seeing the charities’ happiness upon receiving the items was truly impactful. This experience reinforced my belief in sustainability as a core value I deeply align with.

What is your favorite item you’ve purchased from OnTheList, online or offline? And why is it your favorite?

I don’t buy a lot from OnTheList, but one item I purchased was a Dyson fan. It was my first Dyson product. The fan wasn’t brand new— it was a showroom-used product sold during one of our events. It came with a six-month warranty and is still working perfectly today.

If you had to describe OnTheList as a company and an employer in three words, what would they be?

Opportunity, flexibility and open-mindedness.