What does your typical day look like at Instrumental?
No day is the same, but generally speaking I start by running through Slack and e-mails to see what may have changed overnight. Then, I jump into coding an in-flight project. Between coding, I will look over pull requests, chat with other team members about an idea that needs vetting, or join meetings with my team. As a developer I am most efficient when I take small breaks between coding sessions, so I plan my days accordingly. The most enjoyable part of my day is brainstorming and problem solving to come up with solutions for scalability that can help move the company forward at a steady pace.
Why did you choose Instrumental?
Instrument caught my attention with their incredible landing page. The visual of data flowing from factories through various stations of the manufacturing pipeline was really appealing and seemed to align with the sort of event driven data mechanisms that I was building at a previous company. After landing an interview and meeting some potential team members, it was immediately apparent that I could build a successful career at Instrumental.
Tell us one thing that people may not know about you.
While I am a technologist, I started college as an audio engineer. It didn’t play out as I had hoped, and I decided to try out a degree called Informatics with a music cognate/minor. I think I minored in music, telecommunications, and entrepreneurship. The combination of my interests in music and technology led me to always chase startup opportunities. My first tech project was building a website for an independent record label that I started my freshman year of college. When I graduated in 2014, selling vinyl records for niche musicians wasn’t quite enough to pay the bills. I eventually settled and found my way into a career as a software engineer.
Since joining Instrumental, what has been your favorite memory working here?
We had a Winter Olympics tournament at work where everyone joined a team and earned points for participating in various “winter games” at home. My favorite memory was watching all the videos of various co-workers competing to earn points. One challenge was to create a homemade bobsled and make a video being pulled around in the snow. I tried leasing my dogs to a cardboard box…it didn’t quite work.
What is your favorite Instrumental Slack channel and why?
I like #we-love-pets because everyone has good pictures and stories to share.
What do you like most about your job?
The best part of my job is the challenge. I’m passionate about always improving and being the best version of myself. It’s fulfilling to have a career where there isn’t too much red tape or management telling me what I can and cannot do. If I see a potential solution to a problem, I can plan it, and start developing it. It’s great to finish a project and see the positive impact in production.
