HYUNDAI GLOVIS WEBZINE
HYUNDAI GLOVIS WEBZINE

Programming and Coding to Change the World



Programming and Coding to Change the World

CEO of ‘Like Lion’, Lee Doo-hee

He used to be called the Seoul National University genius hacker, an engineering super-student, and a young CEO.
He now wants to be remembered by his name, Lee Doo-hee.
He is close to being forty, but he still has the passion of a twenty-year-old.
We met CEO and programmer Lee Doo-hee,
who rides the waves of the hyper-connectivity and hyper-convergence era like a surfer.

Q. In a recent Hyundai Glovis online lecture, you gave a lecture on Digital Transformation (DT), and said that, “The future is the era of hyper-connectivity.” In this regard, what are the industries that should move particularly quickly with the flow of change, and in what ways do you think that literature, arts, and sports that seem largely unrelated to the digital change can be connected?


Obviously, the IT field must actively prepare for the era of hyper-connectivity. The same applies to areas that can create synergy when connected with IT. For example, Hyundai GloVis is a logistics company, but can be connected with IT to realize logistics optimization. In other fields, you do not need to be particularly interested in DT or hyper-connectivity. For example, literature, arts, and sports are unique and distinctive in their own ways, so much so that IT does not affect them as much. However, if you are a digital artist, the circumstances will be different. So, I think it depends on the case and on the individual artist's personality and work style.

Q. What kind of training and support do you recommend for corporates to be able to follow the trend of DT or to get ahead?


Nowadays, more and more companies are offering coding education to their employees according to their job relevance, but I think a company-wide education would be the most efficient in bringing out changes throughout the company at once. Now, we use mobile phone apps to do banking, but before that it was telebanking. And even before that, we had to go to the bank in person. If a bank had missed any of these processes, they would have disappeared from the market because they could not adapt to the new system. It is about time that we decide whether or not to ride the massive and global trend of DT.

Q. Many people are considering starting a business using coding. What kind of mindset do you think people need in order to become a successful app developer?


Having a creative idea is really important. Coding would be boring if there weren’t a purpose for it. However, if you have an idea on how to implement coding, you will have fun studying it. I've seen lots of examples like this while teaching coding at ’Like Lion’. Even people who did not major in computer science can successfully enter the market by turning their ideas into reality through apps. People who majored in computer science tend to focus on the technical aspects, such as reducing the response speed of the server, but non-majors have a lot of fun implementing their ideas step-by-step.

Q. In 2006, you surprised the world when you hacked into the Information System & Technology Center of your own school, Seoul National University, to raise the issue of information security. Since then, you’ve had the nickname of a genius hacker for quite some time. Have you always been interested in computer science?


No, I wasn't particularly interested in computer science. When I was studying for the college entrance exam for the second time, I thought it was cool that computer science lets you try many things in a short period of time. After entering college to major in computer science, my GPA was in 1.0’s. There were so many smart kids I thought it wasn’t for me. I tried to transfer to management school, but I couldn’t because my grades were so low. I even took the college exam again. I really thought I would be a failure if I didn’t do something about it, so started studying computer seriously. I read so many books on coding. Now I’m glad I didn’t give up. Haha.

Q. What are the principles that you keep in mind when running your own company?


It's not a grandiose principle or anything, but I think the person who gets the largest salary should be the engineer, not the CEO. Engineers are critical in company management. Although I am the representative of ‘Like Lion’, our engineers get the highest salary in our company.

Q. In 2013, you founded a college coding club named ‘Like Lion’; it has now become an educational platform where non-computer science majors learn about coding and explore new possibilities. What do you hope to accomplish through ‘Like Lion’?


I want to be like Yulgok LEE, who argued for nurturing 100,000 soldiers. I guess for me, it would be 100,000 Korean developers. With the advent of a hyper-connected and hyper-converged society and the spread of DT, the chances of using coding in everyday life will increase. Even if you don't have a job related to coding, you can always test your own ideas through coding. In March, when COVID-19 started to spread rapidly, college students, whose major were in humanities, learned coding through ‘Like Lion’ and created a website on mask alert. This shows how an idea was realized through coding to accomplish something socially meaningful.

Q. I looked up on some of your past interviews. To a question that asked how you would describe yourself, you answered, “I take up all the work. My work is mine, and other people’s work is also mine!” If you were to be asked the same question again, how would you answer now?


Wow! How nostalgic. I had no idea I said that almost ten years ago. I guess I was in my twenties and I was buried in work back then. Now, I just want to be Lee Doo-hee. The future is unpredictable, so I don't want to get stuck in any particular frame. I think I just want to be myself, Lee Doo-hee.

Q. Please tell us your overall evaluation of 2020 and your wishes and plans for 2021.


2020 has been a really tough year. ‘Like Lion’ has been preparing to launch in Vietnam since 2019, but everything had to stop because of COVID-19. The demand for non-face-to-face education increased, but most were taken by existing large companies. However, that’s why I think I can do better in 2021. When you hit rock bottom, you can only go up, right? As difficult as it was, I believe that 2020 became a steppingstone for future growth. Personally, now that I am married, I want to build a happy family.


[About CEO Lee Doo-hee]

Born in 1983, he was a computer science major at Seoul National University when he hacked the Information System & Technology Center at Seoul National University to raise awareness of the security problem. He earned the nickname "genius hacker" from this event. Lee Doo-hee’s career as a programmer began in 2011 as a CTO of Ultra Corp. He then became a researcher at Neowiz Games, a co-founder of Kongdu Company, and CEO of Shortcut. He is currently the CEO of ‘Like Lion’, a company that teaches coding to non-computer science majors.

2021.01.01

CEO of ‘Like Lion’, Lee Doo-hee

He used to be called the Seoul National University genius hacker, an engineering super-student, and a young CEO.
He now wants to be remembered by his name, Lee Doo-hee.
He is close to being forty, but he still has the passion of a twenty-year-old.
We met CEO and programmer Lee Doo-hee,
who rides the waves of the hyper-connectivity and hyper-convergence era like a surfer.

Q. In a recent Hyundai Glovis online lecture, you gave a lecture on Digital Transformation (DT), and said that, “The future is the era of hyper-connectivity.” In this regard, what are the industries that should move particularly quickly with the flow of change, and in what ways do you think that literature, arts, and sports that seem largely unrelated to the digital change can be connected?

Obviously, the IT field must actively prepare for the era of hyper-connectivity. The same applies to areas that can create synergy when connected with IT. For example, Hyundai GloVis is a logistics company, but can be connected with IT to realize logistics optimization. In other fields, you do not need to be particularly interested in DT or hyper-connectivity. For example, literature, arts, and sports are unique and distinctive in their own ways, so much so that IT does not affect them as much. However, if you are a digital artist, the circumstances will be different. So, I think it depends on the case and on the individual artist’s personality and work style.

Q. What kind of training and support do you recommend for corporates to be able to follow the trend of DT or to get ahead?

Nowadays, more and more companies are offering coding education to their employees according to their job relevance, but I think a company-wide education would be the most efficient in bringing out changes throughout the company at once. Now, we use mobile phone apps to do banking, but before that it was telebanking. And even before that, we had to go to the bank in person. If a bank had missed any of these processes, they would have disappeared from the market because they could not adapt to the new system. It is about time that we decide whether or not to ride the massive and global trend of DT.

Q. Many people are considering starting a business using coding. What kind of mindset do you think people need in order to become a successful app developer?

Having a creative idea is really important. Coding would be boring if there weren’t a purpose for it. However, if you have an idea on how to implement coding, you will have fun studying it. I’ve seen lots of examples like this while teaching coding at ’Like Lion’. Even people who did not major in computer science can successfully enter the market by turning their ideas into reality through apps. People who majored in computer science tend to focus on the technical aspects, such as reducing the response speed of the server, but non-majors have a lot of fun implementing their ideas step-by-step.

Q. In 2006, you surprised the world when you hacked into the Information System & Technology Center of your own school, Seoul National University, to raise the issue of information security. Since then, you’ve had the nickname of a genius hacker for quite some time. Have you always been interested in computer science?

No, I wasn’t particularly interested in computer science. When I was studying for the college entrance exam for the second time, I thought it was cool that computer science lets you try many things in a short period of time. After entering college to major in computer science, my GPA was in 1.0’s. There were so many smart kids I thought it wasn’t for me. I tried to transfer to management school, but I couldn’t because my grades were so low. I even took the college exam again. I really thought I would be a failure if I didn’t do something about it, so started studying computer seriously. I read so many books on coding. Now I’m glad I didn’t give up. Haha.

Q. What are the principles that you keep in mind when running your own company?

It’s not a grandiose principle or anything, but I think the person who gets the largest salary should be the engineer, not the CEO. Engineers are critical in company management. Although I am the representative of ‘Like Lion’, our engineers get the highest salary in our company.

Q. In 2013, you founded a college coding club named ‘Like Lion’; it has now become an educational platform where non-computer science majors learn about coding and explore new possibilities. What do you hope to accomplish through ‘Like Lion’?

I want to be like Yulgok LEE, who argued for nurturing 100,000 soldiers. I guess for me, it would be 100,000 Korean developers. With the advent of a hyper-connected and hyper-converged society and the spread of DT, the chances of using coding in everyday life will increase. Even if you don’t have a job related to coding, you can always test your own ideas through coding. In March, when COVID-19 started to spread rapidly, college students, whose major were in humanities, learned coding through ‘Like Lion’ and created a website on mask alert. This shows how an idea was realized through coding to accomplish something socially meaningful.

Q. I looked up on some of your past interviews. To a question that asked how you would describe yourself, you answered, “I take up all the work. My work is mine, and other people’s work is also mine!” If you were to be asked the same question again, how would you answer now?

Wow! How nostalgic. I had no idea I said that almost ten years ago. I guess I was in my twenties and I was buried in work back then. Now, I just want to be Lee Doo-hee. The future is unpredictable, so I don’t want to get stuck in any particular frame. I think I just want to be myself, Lee Doo-hee.

Q. Please tell us your overall evaluation of 2020 and your wishes and plans for 2021.

2020 has been a really tough year. ‘Like Lion’ has been preparing to launch in Vietnam since 2019, but everything had to stop because of COVID-19. The demand for non-face-to-face education increased, but most were taken by existing large companies. However, that’s why I think I can do better in 2021. When you hit rock bottom, you can only go up, right? As difficult as it was, I believe that 2020 became a steppingstone for future growth. Personally, now that I am married, I want to build a happy family.

[About CEO Lee Doo-hee]
Born in 1983, he was a computer science major at Seoul National University when he hacked the Information System & Technology Center at Seoul National University to raise awareness of the security problem. He earned the nickname “genius hacker” from this event. Lee Doo-hee’s career as a programmer began in 2011 as a CTO of Ultra Corp. He then became a researcher at Neowiz Games, a co-founder of Kongdu Company, and CEO of Shortcut. He is currently the CEO of ‘Like Lion’, a company that teaches coding to non-computer science majors.