Talking Tech & Teamwork with Festim Shyti, Technical Lead at KODE

At KODE Labs, we believe that every great product is the result of thoughtful collaboration, driven innovation, and a shared passion for excellence. This month, we sat down with Festim Shyti, one of our Technical Leads, to learn more about his journey in tech, his leadership approach, and how he’s helping to shape the future of our platform.

With more than a decade of experience in software engineering and leadership, Festim combines deep technical expertise with a strong team-first mindset. These qualities reflect and reinforce KODE’s culture of collaboration, innovation, and continuous growth.

Here’s what he had to share with us:

To start off, can you tell us about your role at KODE Labs and the team you’re currently leading?

As a Technical Lead at KODE Labs, I am currently leading the design system team while also providing technical oversight for the entire front-end platform. My key responsibilities include planning long-term strategies for architecture, optimization, and scaling, as well as helping other front-end teams succeed. A crucial part of my role is staying current with the latest technologies to ensure our platform remains innovative and efficient.

Throughout your career, what mindset or principle has helped you navigate challenges and grow as a professional?

The core principle that has guided my career is to “leave things better than I found them.” When facing challenges, this mindset pushes me to go beyond quick fixes and make lasting improvements, such as enhancing code or refining team processes. This approach not only makes our systems more resilient but also fuels my professional growth by constantly forcing me to learn deeply, step out of my comfort zone, and take ownership of creating long-term value.

How do you ensure the KODE frontend team stays ahead of evolving technology trends?

We ensure the KODE frontend team stays ahead of evolving technology trends through a proactive learning and implementation approach. Regular training sessions and knowledge-sharing meetings keep the team current with industry developments and provide a space to exchange best practices and new discoveries.

When starting on new features, we align with stakeholders, including product managers, designers, and backend engineers, to define clear requirements and apply architectural best practices from the outset. This balance of continuous learning and collaborative planning allows us to adopt modern technologies effectively while consistently delivering high-quality and business-aligned features.

From your perspective as a technical lead, how have the changes in technology shaped your approach to working on the KODE OS platform?

Lately, we’ve completely shifted how we approach the KODE OS platform. As a team, we’re focused on architecting a scalable, data-rich ecosystem. Moving to a component-driven architecture has made a huge difference in how quickly and consistently we can build. With modern frameworks, we’re now handling real-time data to create the fluid dashboards our users need. By embracing an API-first approach, our teams can innovate independently, and our focus on better tools has dramatically improved the pace of our work.

What excites you most about the future of KODE OS, and what advice would you give to new engineers joining the team?

What excites me most about the future of KODE OS is its evolution into a cognitive building platform that uses AI to create predictive and autonomous spaces, enhancing both sustainability and human well-being.

My advice to new engineers is to be relentlessly curious and think like an owner, not just a coder. Understand the “why” behind your work by connecting it to customer needs, taking initiative, and embracing collaboration. This is your opportunity to be one of the engineers who helped shape a sustainable future and contributed to one of the most impactful platforms in the smart building space.

Festim’s journey shows what happens when craft meets ownership, systems become stronger, teams become faster, and users feel the difference. Keep an eye out for our next chapter, featuring the data expert behind tailored KPI frameworks and workflow automation for some of our largest deployments.