Meet James Lim, Software Engineer
When Singapore-based engineer James Lim joined Abnormal, he expected to build secure systems. What he didn’t expect was how much freedom he’d have to experiment — or how AI would change the way he thinks, codes, and collaborates.
January 20, 2026
Global Impact, From Singapore
When James joined Abnormal’s engineering team less than two years ago, he was quickly given a challenge with far-reaching impact: getting the Email Productivity suite up and running in the FedRAMP environment.
Most of the FedRAMP engineers were based in the U.S., while James was working from Singapore. The time difference could have slowed things down, but instead, it became a lesson in ownership and communication.
“I had to do a lot of cross-time-zone collaboration and even schedule calls outside typical hours to get things working,” he said. “It gave me exposure to infrastructure debugging and challenges I’d never handled before.”
That experience not only expanded his technical skill set but also showed him what makes Abnormal different. Every engineer owns their outcomes. There’s trust to move fast, and support when you hit a wall
“Imagine being based in Singapore and being asked to deploy a whole new suite of services in the FedRAMP environment in the US. I couldn’t rely on fellow engineers being available in the same time zone for easy discussions and deployments.”
Owning the Challenge
For James, that culture of ownership is what makes work at Abnormal feel both demanding and rewarding. “We have a strong sense of accountability,” he said. “Even though I’m based in Singapore, I never feel disconnected from the global team. Everyone is just as invested in helping each other unblock and deliver.”
That global collaboration has become second nature. Whether he’s working with product managers in North America or security specialists in Europe, the rhythm of teamwork is seamless — supported by communication, trust, and the shared understanding that every engineer’s work has direct customer impact.
Curiosity-Driven Breakthroughs
While James thrives on collaboration, his favorite breakthroughs often start with quiet curiosity.
During his time on the Email Productivity team, his group faced an issue with a third-party library that was throttling graymail processing — a slowdown serious enough to block a general release. Out of curiosity, he decided to try something new.
“That was one of the first times I used AI to help with coding,” he said. “I just wanted to see if it could help identify the issue — and it actually did. After a few iterations, it came up with improvements that significantly increased processing speed.”
That experiment, as he describes it, “unblocked us for GA.” But more than that, it reshaped how he viewed AI — not as a replacement for skill, but as a creative problem-solving partner.
“With nothing to lose, we just tried using Cursor to see what it could suggest. To our surprise, it actually came up with a whole new algorithm that allowed us to replace the third-party library.”
Learning from AI to Work Smarter
Since then, AI has become part of James’s everyday toolkit.
With teams distributed globally, engineers often rely on AI as a first responder when colleagues are offline. “AI helps bridge those gaps,” he said. “If I have a question late at night, I can use it to analyze the code flow or understand how a system was designed. It saves a lot of time when you’re onboarding or taking over an unfamiliar codebase.”
That efficiency lets engineers spend less time digging for answers and more time creating solutions.
“Due to our cross-time-zone setup, AI acts as a first responder. It helps us stay unblocked and understand new systems faster.”
AI also makes knowledge-sharing more natural. Instead of waiting for handoffs or long Slack threads, James can explore architecture in real time, experiment safely, and bring new ideas to the next team meeting.
Being Trusted to Lead and To Learn
What ties it all together — from the late-night FedRAMP calls to the AI-powered debugging sessions — is Abnormal’s culture of trust and experimentation.
“We have a strong team culture where we can depend on each other to unblock deliverables,” James said. “And we’re encouraged to try things. That’s how you grow here — by exploring, learning, and seeing what works.”
That trust has helped him grow not just as an engineer, but as a collaborator and a thinker. “I’ve learned to be more curious and to take more initiative. When you have that kind of support, you push yourself further.”
“Even as a junior engineer when I joined, I was given a lot of autonomy in how I work.”
Looking Ahead: Turning Experimentation into Action
When James reflects on his journey so far, he sees how each project — and each late-night experiment — fits into something bigger.
He’s part of a global team that’s redefining how engineers work with AI, blending autonomy with shared purpose. “AI helps us move faster,” he said, “but the real difference is how we use it — to stay curious, to collaborate better, and to keep improving.”
“AI helps us move faster, but the real difference is how we use it — to stay curious, to collaborate better, and to keep improving.”
Looking ahead, James is excited to deepen that relationship with AI. “I’m interested to see how I can further incorporate AI into my workflows to make my work more efficient and effective,” he said.
That mindset drives him forward. Whether it’s exploring new tools, mentoring peers, or helping launch the next big product, James is focused on the same goal that drew him to Abnormal in the first place: solving hard problems that matter.
