Meet the Edpuzzler: Taking the Leap from Surgeries to Supporting Teachers
For years after graduating from college, I would joke to friends and co-workers that I still didn’t know what I wanted to be when I grew up.
It usually yielded responses ranging from a blank stare to a hearty belly laugh. But for several years during and after college, it was more or less true — I wasn’t sure what I wanted to do.
I like to solve problems. I have always liked helping people. And as the oldest of three boys, I realized from an early age the satisfaction of learning something new and then teaching it to others.
For the first 11 years of my professional career, I worked in intra-operative neurodiagnostics, meaning that I monitored patients’ nervous systems during surgery. Essentially, I acted on behalf of the patient’s nerves to let the surgeon know when something they were doing was having a negative (or positive) impact on the function of particular nerve pathways.
Most often, I was there to ensure the patient did not wake up having lost nerve function. I had the opportunity to work with some incredibly bright and talented people.
Now, this was not something that I went to school for. So, in order to pass my board certification exam, I had so much to learn on my own. It was exciting and terrifying at the same time, and I loved the challenge.
While studying for countless hours for the exam after work, I learned that creating my own flashcards was quite an effective study method for my kinesthetic learning style.
Over my time in neurodiagnostics, I developed a reputation for capably covering the more intricate and challenging procedures we typically monitored which led to me being trusted with training new hires.
Training rekindled my passion for teaching, appreciating that doing so reinforced my own knowledge base and helped me grow personally.
Despite the fulfilling nature of my role and the positive impact I had on peoples’ lives, I had reached the limit of growth potential in the field. With the explosion of the Information Security sector over the past decade, a pivot seemed like it would present me with the challenges and opportunities for personal and professional growth I was looking for.
While exploring degree programs and trying out different ways of studying in my free time, I discovered a video tool that would allow me to make my own digital flashcards, embed them into videos I found on YouTube and then present them back to me. That tool was Edpuzzle.
I loved how intuitive and flexible Edpuzzle was. I loved that I could take pretty much any video, and adapt it to my needs (even though my needs were different from the typical use case) and it just worked.
I was accepted to an online university program to study Network Security and was preparing to enroll in classes when the Spring of 2020 came around.
All non-emergency surgery in my state was canceled, essentially overnight. I suddenly had plenty of time for school, but due to a lack of scheduled surgeries, my company couldn’t afford to keep paying us to sit at home. I needed to find a second job… STAT.
While looking for part-time jobs, I noticed that Edpuzzle was hiring Customer Support agents. I’m a tech-oriented guy and I enjoy helping people, so why not? I applied.
To my surprise, I received an email asking me to schedule a call with Quim, the CEO. We had a great conversation and I remember being impressed not only with Quim’s vision for the company but also with the culture that he and his fellow co-founders had cultivated.
They needed help, I needed help — it seemed to make sense.
From my very first day at Edpuzzle, I felt much like I did when I first started in healthcare, excited and terrified all at once.
For a while, I was still working a very sporadic surgical schedule and answering support tickets during my breaks and long into most evenings. Despite the long hours, I felt invigorated and inspired by the enthusiasm and energy effused by my new colleagues.
The willingness of every member of the Edpuzzle team to answer my questions and help me was a welcome breath of fresh air.
From Customer Support, I was offered an opportunity to join the Sales team, managing and supporting accounts in the Northeast US. At this point I felt pretty comfortable in my knowledge and understanding of the nuts and bolts of Edpuzzle, allowing me to focus my energy on learning how to communicate Edpuzzle’s value to others.
Although I had more or less dismissed previous offers presented to me for medical sales roles ‘in my previous life,’ something about this opportunity made me entirely reconsider sales. Why? Because I felt supported. I felt encouraged to learn and to grow and to make mistakes… provided (of course) that lessons were learned from those mistakes.
And I did make mistakes!
But, what truly matters is that I make a point to learn from each and every one of them. Which, I think, is at the core of what makes Edpuzzle truly great. That what we encourage teachers to do with their students using our platform, we also demand of ourselves and of our colleagues:
Namely, Edpuzzle encourages and facilitates learning, growth, and striving toward the betterment of one’s self.
In January 2022, Antonio transitioned to leading a division of Edpuzzle’s School Success Team, focused on supporting schools and districts in the US with training and best practices to help ensure every student — regardless of background — is only one click away from a world-class education.
Check out Edpuzzle’s jobs board to find out how you can become a part of the team!
