Technical Operations June 20, 2022

Raheem Gakou: My Three Favorite Things About Working at Redesign Health

As part of our “My Three Favorite Things About Working at Redesign Health” series, we welcome Technical Operations Associate Raheem Gakou to share his experience creating reliable and secure IT infrastructure for both Redesign Health and our Operating Companies. The Redesign Health team is growing! Come join us!

I started my career in IT as an intern at a streaming company and worked there for three years as an IT technician. It was a different environment from Redesign Health — my previous employer was a large company, and I was a part of a big team. I moved to Redesign Health because I wanted to be at a place where I could contribute more and actually build IT infrastructure from the ground up.

As part of the Technical Operations team at Redesign Health, it’s been so rewarding to build the infrastructure and processes that enable our company to run smoothly — from creating new systems that help onboard employees, to working on mobile device management to keep our data safe, and beyond. While we’ll always strive to find ways our systems can improve, my goal for this year is to continue automating many of our IT processes to support our teams with greater efficiencies as they create important health solutions at an accelerated pace.

"At Redesign Health we're creating companies that truly impact people's lives."

Here are my three favorite things about working at Redesign Health.

1. I love how my job helps our team to do their job better.

I love working in IT and providing my expertise to help others. I’ve always been the go-to IT person — in my neighborhood, school — everywhere! At Redesign Health, I can take my skills and apply them to the bigger picture: I’m enabling those who use our technology to contribute to something bigger than themselves. I enjoy what I do because I can clearly see the impact that the work I’m doing is having at Redesign Health and beyond.
2. People at Redesign Health genuinely care about our team and about building long-term relationships.

My team is really small; it’s just me and three others, including my manager, Mike. Not only does he always have an answer to my questions, but it’s also clear that he cares about me as an individual. That genuine support is especially important when your team is small.
I particularly enjoy the coffee chats that Redesign Health sets up, where you’re paired with people within the company that you wouldn’t usually cross paths with, and this has helped me build relationships with people outside of my immediate team.
3. We’re empowering healthcare.

We’re identifying different pain points within the healthcare system and always asking what we can improve. One of the Operating Companies I’m especially excited about is UpLift, a technology platform that empowers patients to find in-network therapists covered by their insurance plans. On a personal level, I’ve found that navigating the mental healthcare system can be difficult, and it can be almost impossible to get the help you need. At Redesign Health, we’re creating companies like UpLift, that truly impact people’s lives. And when you hear positive feedback from some of the operating companies' customers, it puts a smile on my face — and makes me feel like I’m part of something much bigger.

Raheem Gakou Technical Operations Associate

Raheem has extensive expertise in the field of Information Technology (IT). From troubleshooting software/hardware applications and operating systems to maintaining security for internal and external clients, Raheem has distinguished himself as a result-driven professional. Before joining Redesign Health, Raheem was an IT Technician at Spotify’s Global Workplace Services Department. There, Raheem strategically addressed and resolved an average of 20–30 tickets daily, engaging end-users via live chat and phone support. His ability to speak and communicate in various languages, such as French and Arabic, expanded the company’s clientele reach in impactful ways. More significantly, he helped transform the company’s technical support reach by implementing Established Service Level Agreement (SLA) benchmarks, ensuring high levels of quality technical support. He also helped the company create and update knowledge documents that standardized responses and corrective actions through the documentation of past client encounters. This directly resulted in an exponential boost in productivity as it helped to expedite resolutions and minimize downtime. Before joining the Spotify team, Raheem was a student at Year Up New York where he expanded his knowledge of IT. There, he was enrolled in a one-year career development program that incorporated six months of college-level IT courses and professional training followed by a six-month internship in technician certifications.

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