“What's easy to go through is hard to talk about, and what's hard to go through is easy to talk about.”
- Ariano Suassuna (Translated from PT to EN)
One of the most unexpected things about my journey toward Australian Permanent Residency is how much I've been learning outside of Software Engineering and interestingly enough, how much of that learning is still engineering at heart.
Context: From Fullstack Dev to Front Desk Ops
While grinding toward the PR dream, one of the roles I’ve taken on is a concierge. Not glamorous, but definitely meaningful.
I sit behind a desk, wearing a tie and a smile, handling dozens of tasks:
- Booking lifts and loading docks;
- Organizing and delivering parcels (sometimes to doors!);
- Managing keys for contractors;
- Logging what goes out, what comes in;
- Running admin across multiple platforms.
It’s an intense mix of customer service, logistics, and situational awareness, and it runs on systems.
Now here's the twist: between service calls and package handovers, I’ve been coding like a beast in anonymous browser tabs.
Like that dog that keeps drinking water even when full, that’s how hungry I am for progress, you know?
The Problem: A Monster Spreadsheet
At one building, I inherited a confusing spreadsheet. Take a look at it below:
It was the system to track parcel delivery instructions, but it was chaotic.
It took time as it required reading between lines. New staff had no clue what to do unless they memorized the whole thing or invested a considered time of the day to map the instructions to the apartments.
Residents asking: “Why hasn’t my parcel been delivered?”
Staff asking: “Am I even supposed to deliver this?”
The sort of problem that could be solved with engineering.
The Solution: Streamlit + Logic
So I built a tool.
A simple, open-source Streamlit web app that:
- Receives an apartment number
- Fetches the relevant delivery instructions
- Tells the Concierge on duty exactly what to do
Here’s the logic breakdown (Python snippet):
if "deliver to door" in notes_clean:
st.success(f"🚪 Deliver to door. Use {lift} for apartment {apt}")
elif "deliver if requested" in notes_clean:
st.info(f"📦 Deliver if requested. Use {lift} for apartment {apt}")
elif "store package and send notification" in notes_clean:
st.info(f"✅ Store and notify. Use {lift} for apartment {apt}")
elif notes:
st.info(f"ℹ️ Note: {notes}. Use {lift} for apartment {apt}")
From confusion to clarity — in a single input field. That’s engineering.
Outcome & Vision
The app is already deployed at one site and in daily use by concierges.
Staff love it. Residents get faster service. Managers don’t need to train people on convoluted spreadsheets anymore.
This was a small win, but when reflecting on it, it really showed me something bigger:
Every problem is a system problem. Every system can be improved.
Try it Out
Thanks for reading this article. And remember: you don’t need a tech title to act like an Engineer.
Build things. Solve problems. Share with the world.
🇦🇺🦘🔥
Top comments (1)
I love how you’ve connected software engineering principles to concierge work—it’s a great reminder that problem-solving, process optimization, and clear communication are universal skills. Even outside tech, systems thinking can make daily operations smoother and more efficient.If you need more inspiration on applying structured thinking to everyday solutions, click here .This kind of cross-industry perspective really shows how valuable engineering principles are beyond traditional tech roles.