Entered business in high school

“When I was young, I often built computers and experimented with technology as much as possible. This led to me initially creating a home e-commerce business of building and selling computers online in the early days of the internet at the age of 16. When this became too demanding, I made business partnerships that allowed me to dropship computers and electronics from warehouses around the world without the need to store or build them myself.

Within a few years, Japanese animation was also gaining traction in the United States as a popular source of entertainment. I acted on this opportunity to add Japanese animation to my business, and made more partnerships to import anime to the U.S. and begin sell it online. This was a successful business model at the time because in the early days of anime's entrance into the U.S. market, dvds were only sold in a select few retail stores, and for very expensive prices. I cut out the middle men to purchase at wholesale prices and sell to the U.S. market at lower prices than could be found in stores. For a time, I also utilized a partnership with a jewelry company to sell diamonds at wholesale prices, and did business in the real estate market as well.

After the recession and the growth of competitors, my business slowed and I decided close it after 9 years and move to Israel. As a Jewish person, I feel a deep connection to the land of Israel, it is the homeland of my people. After visiting it once, I had cemented my decision to live there and serve the country. I made arrangements to immigrate to Israel, become a citizen, and enlist in the Israel Defense Forces.

Just before entering the IDF, I also published my first epic fantasy novel, Crimson Blade , that I had been writing in my spare time for a few years. After release, it was the #1 best-selling epic fantasy novel on Amazon for some time. But I don’t write as much these days.

https://www.amazon.com/Corey-Soreff/e/B009W8QDC0

While in the IDF, I worked towards the goal of joining the International Relations branch, a difficult and prestigious branch to enter. I eventually succeeded, and worked alongside other global members of the IDF to manage relations with other countries around the world, and also worked on human rights issues in third world countries.”

Career change to software development and newfound passion for Ruby

“When my time in the IDF was coming to an end, I knew I needed to make a decision about my future. I had always been interested in technology, whether it be building computers or websites, but I had never learned to code aside from typical website design. Therefore, I decided to return to school and received my B.S. in Computer Sciece from Framingham State University. During school, I did a lot of freelance web development and IT work, and worked as a web development intern as well. I had the foundations of a software engineer, but there were still more skills I wanted to learn. I often practiced Ruby in my spare time even though we used Java in school, and would sometimes get permission to do my assignments in Ruby instead. I always thought Ruby was a beautiful language and so much simpler to work with than others. I also had an interest in gaining more web development skills aside from the few classes in school. This desire to fill the gap in my skills led me to Launch Academy, due to my specific interest in web development and Ruby on Rails. I completed a Ruby on Rails apprenticeship at Launch Academy, which helped me to land my next job as a Ruby on Rails engineer at Nextgengolf. Working for 14 months at Nextgengolf was a great learning experience under the impressive leadership of the company. Working closely with the CTO and CEO there helped me to experience the growth of a startup company from an engineer's perspective.

Because of always having been interested in Japan, I traveled to Japan frequently to visit the country. Ever since I was young and attended a Japanese school at 13 years old, I always maintained a great interest in Japanese culture. In 2016, I traveled to Japan once again to attend RubyKaigi 2016. At RubyKaigi, I was able to meet my role model, Yukihiro Matsumoto, and connect with more Ruby developers from around the world. I also ran into a friend I had met in Tokyo while attending a Sendagaya.rb event, a ruby group in Tokyo. My friend knew about my desire to someday live and work in Japan, and he introduced me to ABEJA!”

ABEJA has an impressive vision and an admirable team

“I had been talking to several companies that I had met at RubyKaigi and through other avenues, and had received several job offers. ABEJA stood out to me among them all as a company with a comfortable culture and a truly innovative vision and set of technology. Throughout the interview process, everyone I spoke with was kind, passionate, and easy to talk to. The business of ABEJA and its vision for the future were immensely interesting, and I wanted to join an innovative culture where I could continue to learn the newest skills of the future. I enjoyed my company in Boston and it was difficult to leave them, but I felt that ABEJA was the perfect opportunity for me to begin a rewarding career in Japan with a skillful team and exciting new technologies. The ABEJA leadership and engineering members that I had spoken to and researched had an impressive history, vision, and skillsets, and I knew this would be a place where I could grow and learn from a great team.

Easing into my new role as an engineer at ABEJA was both a rewarding and challenging experience. Though I specialize in Ruby on Rails, I have also been learning and working with other emerging and challenging platforms such as Serverless/AWS Lambda and Elixir/Phoenix, and will continue to constantly learn and grow with my team. I also knew that entering the Japanese workforce would be a challenge due to my limited Japanese skills, but ABEJA is growing as a global company and has accommodated me well, and we have a diverse team of members from around the world. We have gathered some of the most skilled engineers from Japan and other countries, and it is a pleasure to work alongside them and learn from them.

ABEJA is growing quickly, and as we have now entered the global market I am excited to grow with the company. We face constant challenges as we grow and expand to other markets, and I am looking forward to assisting in these transitions. As I continue to grow as a software engineer and the company continues to meet higher demands, I would like to someday lead my own team here at ABEJA. I am also constantly building my own projects on the side to ensure that I am always learning. Together, I think that we will achieve great things!”

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