Employee Q&A: Elisabeth Pillsbury, Senior Software Engineer
DraftKings couldn’t produce award-winning products without our Engineering team. We’re excited to spotlight our talent Engineers through our Q&A series. Please welcome Elisabeth, Senior Software Engineer, who’s been with DraftKings for 2 years! Get to know Elisabeth’s story below.
How have you adjusted your work/life balance for ‘shelter in place’?
It’s certainly more difficult to draw the line between work and personal life when they share the same physical space! I tend to overwork, so I think the first step for me was to recognize that it’s “okay” to take breaks during the work-from-home day. Just as I would take 20 minutes to step out and grab coffee with my coworkers pre-COVID, it’s similarly encouraged to step out for air every once in a while now that I’m working from home. My director was great in facilitating these sorts of mandatory breaks by instituting two calendar blocks during each workday. Knowing these windows of time were protected from meetings allowed me to develop daily routines such as taking lunchtime walks and working out.
What do you do at DraftKings? How does your team contribute to DraftKings products?
I’m a Senior Software Engineer on Marketing Platform — Promotions. Our team develops and maintains all promotional and loyalty systems, which award bonus offers, missions, achievements, and daily rewards. For example, if a user takes action on our site, our services evaluate the activity in the context of the user’s eligible offers to determine whether or not they have fulfilled the offer criteria. If they have, we calculate the redemption value and award the bonus (i.e., cash, casino credits, free bets, etc.). We also build internal tools used by our marketing teams to manage and schedule these promotions. I enjoy building relationships and working closely with the marketing team (our internal users) — supporting them in their day-to-day use of our tools, gathering feedback, and improving the overall product.
How did you end up at DraftKings? What drew you to the company?
When I interviewed at DraftKings, I was impressed by the quality of people I met — genuine, smart, friendly, invested in the success of the company — and I’ve been glad to find that these first impressions did not disappoint once I began working here full time. I find that I’m also motivated to work hard at DraftKings because I respect my coworkers and I feel invested in our team’s role in the larger organization.
What does a typical day look like for you?
I typically log on around 9:00 am with a mug of coffee and a chill music playlist. After catching up on any unread slacks and emails, I’ll jump into whatever to-do item is the highest priority for the day. I focus best in the morning, so I usually try to tackle whatever requires the most attention or creativity before stand-up at 10:30 am. Besides stand-up, a typical day might have one or two meetings made up of 1-on-1s, grooming sessions, interviews, or check-ins to sync up with another team about a shared project. In a given day I might do some combination of the following: write code, investigate issues reported to our support channel, document a technical plan for an upcoming project, problem-solve with team members, code review or functionally test another engineer’s ticket, pull together, deploy, and monitor a release, etc. If I’m on call for the week, I have the added responsibility to respond to and resolve any alarms that might page my team. On an average day, I wrap up my work and log off between 5 and 5:30 pm.
What do you prefer to be called? Programmer, Coder, or Engineer?
I usually describe myself as a Software Engineer… Especially at DraftKings, where one is responsible for the product from technical design to implementation to performance, the term “programmer” or “coder” doesn’t seem quite inclusive enough for all we do here!
What is your favorite perk at DraftKings? What is your favorite DraftKings company event?
Definitely the free manicures sponsored by DraftKings (you just have to tip!) — huge shoutout to Nghi, our outstanding Nail Technician. And any company holiday parties are good fun; the Work Experience team goes above and beyond every year to deck out the office with themed decorations and great food & drink.
What’d you wish you had known before working at DraftKings?
As a new-hire at DraftKings, you are given a tremendous amount of autonomy and agency. I love that culture here — as you show initiative or responsibility in an area, you are given more opportunities to take the lead — be ready for it! Because of this, I feel that I’ve been able to play a bigger role at DraftKings than I would have at another more rigid tech company.
What advice do you have for getting a job at DraftKings?
We try to make our interview process as transparent and as close to what you’ll find in your actual role as possible — no “trick” questions. So just be yourself. Show enthusiasm. Show initiative. Read about the company and write down some questions you have about an aspect that interests you. Show that you can think on your feet and problem solve. Show that you can listen, pivot your approach, and collaborate.
What’s your proudest DraftKings moment?
In late 2019, I received the DK All-Star Award “Above and Beyond” for my contributions to my team and the pre-NFL 2019 load testing initiative. I was surprised and very flattered to be acknowledged.
