In Conversation With Jack Bittiner

We recently caught up with Jack Bittiner, one of the Software Engineers in our Product Engineering department. Jack was happy to talk to us about his time at Cazoo, here’s what he had to say.

Q: What was your previous role before you joined Cazoo?

A: My last job was at a genealogy company, which was my first engineering job. I was a bootcamp grad after a career change, not that I had much of a career before, so really I got a career!

I worked there for a couple of years which was great, but I felt I needed to move on to further my development.

Q:Why did you decide to go to a bootcamp?

A: When I went to university, I studied Politics and Philosophy, which I really enjoyed at the time but basically left me unemployable. I decided I wanted a change, so I did some research around engineering, thought it was cool and decided to jump in. I went to Makers Academy, which was a good course. I really enjoyed those three months. I also moved to London around the same time so it was pretty exciting.

Q:What do you like about being an engineer?

A: Solving problems and building stuff is cool. I like that feeling you get when you finish a new product. I like logical puzzles and coding is like that.

I feel like I’m always learning as an engineer, there is an infinite amount of things to learn.

Q:What would you say is the coolest thing you’ve built before?

A: The coolest thing I’ve built is one of my own pet projects. I made a website for DJs. You put in a song and it will recommend songs based on BPM and key, so you can have that seamless mix. I don’t expect anyone to use it! I enjoyed making it though, I tried it out as well mixing some songs it recommended and it sounded pretty good.

It’s nothing to look at though, I’m not a good designer. On the homepage it has a lot of unstyled buttons and stuff like that. I want to get it styled as Spotify have a showcase on their website for apps that have used their API. What I want to do next is get a designer to smash out a design for me and get it uploaded to the Spotify website!

Q:Why did you decide to join Cazoo?

A: My friend Tomek suggested that I join Cazoo. I spoke to Matt from the Talent Acquisition team and he sold the dream. He spoke about all the best practices. He pretty much said everything I wanted to hear. There was a big focus on the things I want to get better at. I want to be a best practice engineer and everything just seemed good — the whole culture and the fact it’s an up-and-coming start-up. I thought it would be nice to work in a place that’s on that upward trajectory.

Q:During your time at Cazoo what has been your biggest achievement?

A: Overall, I’ve been happy with my progress so far. I look back a couple of months ago and can see I’ve come a long way. There is so much to learn, there is a never ending pool of stuff to pick up. I’m happy that I’ve learned a lot already. The role is very different from my last place, you are a lot more involved in DevOps stuff and more backend, which I didn’t do before. I’m better equipped to learn these days.

Q:What is your favourite thing about working at Cazoo?

A: I really enjoy my job. I haven’t met most people due to the lockdown, but the people I have met have been great. Everyone is so switched on and ready to get things done. Everyone is really nice, the culture is solid. Everyone cares a lot, they want to do well and get good work out.

Q:How have you found the pandemic and working fully remotely?

A: Cazoo has been great, everyone has been super understanding. I hate working from home, it’s just not for me. I’m easily distracted!

I need to put in a lot more energy to stay concentrated and focused, which can be exhausting. It’s also far too much screen time. I would much rather be in the office, but it is what it is. Cazoo have been great about it though and very flexible.

Q:If you were speaking to someone thinking about joining Cazoo, what would be your advice to them?

A: If I was advising a fellow bootcamp grad? There is a lot of stuff to do, it’s okay not to know everything immediately. It’s a good thing that there is so much to know. It’s cool to think it’s overwhelming, it’s normal so don’t stress about it. Get past the bootcamp imposter syndrome!