Employee Q&A: Rachel Bookhout, Senior Software Engineer — Daily Fantasy Sports
DraftKings couldn’t produce award-winning products without our Engineering team. We’re excited to spotlight our talented Engineers through our Q&A series. Please welcome Rachel, Senior Software Engineer who’s been with DraftKings for over 5 years! Get to know Rachel’s story below.
How have you adjusted your work/life balance for ‘shelter in place’?
I never had much work/life balance before ‘shelter in place’, but living in a small studio, it has become necessary. I started being mindful that if I didn’t allocate time specifically for non-work, non-life sustaining tasks, every day would start looking the same. I scheduled blocks of time each day of no screen time which was difficult at first to uphold, but now it’s the highlight of my day to be creative in finding something to do.
What do you do at DraftKings? How does your team contribute to DraftKings products?
I work as a senior software engineer within our DFS products, primarily working within scoring and lineup management.
How did you end up at DraftKings? What drew you to the company?
My journey to DraftKings and software engineer was not the traditional path. I majored in Japanese in college and lived and worked in Japan for many years. I decided to make a career transition and did a 10-week coding bootcamp. I was hungry to learn and put my new skills to use. At the time, DraftKings was hiring for quality assurance engineers which I felt would be a good stepping stone to becoming a developer. I liked the energy and passion that I saw in every employee at DraftKings and I decided to start my development career here.
What does a typical day look like for you?
Most days, I sign on between 8:30–9am and catch up on my email and code reviews before the day gets too busy. I feel freshest in the morning so I try to get my toughest tasks out of the way first. I have standup at 9:45 and from there, I either help my team with testing or releasing code or I do work on my own tickets. I usually sign off between 5–6pm.
Can you describe your career mobility within DraftKings? What was it like transitioning from QA to Software Applications Engineering?
I worked for 3 years as a quality assurance engineer and transitioned to being a software engineer for almost 2 1/2 years ago. I found the transition to be very seamless because my years as a QA had prepared me well for understanding the expectations and pressure of the role and I had spent so much time working with other developers and learning from them. I have had many managers while I was a quality assurance engineer but all of them encouraged my growth and learning and had given me side projects to develop my coding and design skills. When I transitioned, it felt like I was becoming what I always knew I was and I was being recognized for that.
What do you prefer to be called? Programmer, Coder, or Engineer?
I prefer developer.
Tabs or spaces?
Tabs
What is your favorite perk at DraftKings?
During my transition to being a developer, I took advantage of DraftKings tuition reimbursement and took classes at Harvard Extension to prepare. My teammates and managers were very helpful in ensuring I had the time to take class and study and were always willing to help me out with my homework. It is my favorite perk because I know if I ever wanted to learn something new, money isn’t standing in the way.
What’d you wish you had known before working at DraftKings?
I wish I had known how fast the time was going to pass. Every year I have spent at DraftKings has been vastly different, each challenging in their own way, but when you are excited about the products you are building, it’s easy to lose track of the time.
What’s your proudest DraftKings moment?
Every year, development ramps up over the spring/summer to prepare us for NFL season and the launching of new features. It can be stressful but I am always proud on the first Sunday of NFL, seeing everything we built and worried about performing, and the joy that it is bringing to millions to people.
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