Spotlight: Matt Sanderson
Associate Producer, History Buff, & Casual Star Wars Nerd
Spotlights are a chance to take a look behind the curtain and catch a glimpse into the lives of those who make working at Five & Done weird, wonderful, and enormously rewarding.
Welcome to our newest and mildly anticipated edition of our Spotlight series. This time we cornered Matt Sanderson, an Associate Producer in our Dallas office. Matt is Texas born and bred. After serving in the Army, he graduated from University of North Texas. When Matt isn’t juggling tickets, you can find him hanging out with his fam (he’s a brand new dad!), fueling his passion for history, working out to mumble rap, or hiking. Matt’s hidden talents include multitasking phone calls while holding his daughter, and playing classical piano. Without further ado, the fun to our uncle, the Super to our Man.. Matt Sanderson.
Q: Describe your job for us.
Matt: Oh God! I should have seen this question coming. So, I’m one of the Case Managers that works on BuyaToyota.com. My job is basically making sure that any and all things “help desk” related get addressed and handled. I make sure requests go through the proper workflows, get answers to questions from developers and stakeholders and make sure documentation is done and that bugs are fixed.
Q: As a kid, what did you want to be when you grew up?
Matt: As a kid, I always wanted to join the army like my grandfather, so I went and did that. I knew I didn’t want to be in the army forever though. I think outside out of that I wasn’t sure. I was always on to the next big thing.
Q: Describe your dream project or your dream client?
Matt: I think it would be really neat to do work with defense contracting. In school I did a bunch of evaluations on government websites back in college and their websites are all really terrible.
Q: Anything else you’d like to share?
Matt: Working on BuyaToyota.com and helping with some of the enhancements has been really cool. I like watching the improvements come to life and getting my feet wet. While keeping the lights on is fun, improving the site itself has been great.
Q: What 3 things do you need to be successful at your job?
Matt: I’ve got to have 2 computer monitors, because it’s a lot of juggling back and forth throughout the day. While we have been working from home, having some noise cancelling headphones is also a must. I need a notebook to write everything down too, just to make sure everything gets done.
Q: What’s a tools or App that you can’t live without?
Matt: Spotify is one for sure. Also, my wife. She’s not an app or a tool (haha), but her being able to take care of the baby while I work is fantastic.
Q: Advice to someone just getting started in an Associate Producer position?
Matt: Don’t be afraid to ask a ton of questions, there’s a lot to know and remember. I’m more than a year into it and I still ask questions.
Q: Skill that people wouldn’t expect to be the most helpful in your role?
Matt: Having a little bit of knowledge of UI and UX for sure. I definitely fall back on those skills. It comes in handy when you’re talking with developers and UX designers.
Q: Name 3 things you have at your desk right now?
Matt: My headphone charging case, there’s a burp rag here… but I swear it isn’t for me, and my notebook.
Q: What makes you proud to work at Five & Done?
Matt: Here’s one, a few days back I got a phone call from the Toyota dealerships thanking us for the quick turnaround. While we couldn’t fix the issue at hand ourselves, they felt confident that their needs were heard. The quality of our work and our commitment to help is something I stand behind.
Q: Name 3 of your heroes?
Matt: My father for sure, my cousin who I always looked up to growing up, and I guess Superman. I always loved Superman the most, I still do.
Q: What are you really bad at, but enjoy doing anyway?
Matt: I’m bad at dancing. Actually, I don’t even like dancing, so forget that. Generally, I like to avoid the things I’m bad at if I can. I’m terrible at typing but I have to do that anyway.
Q: What is something that lives up to its hype?
Matt: Blowing something up! Yep, it’s as cool as it looks. I can actually say I’ve done that before too.
Q: If you weren’t doing Case Management what do you think you’d be doing instead?
Matt: I would probably be working for the VA. I think I’d specifically be working with the education side of it. I think I’d enjoy verifying that veterans got all of the benefits they’re entitled to.
Q: What is a super power you would NOT want?
Matt: Oh no…Super smell!
Q: What was cool when you were a kid, but is NOT cool now?
Matt: Every single 90’s movie ever made.
Q: If you could time travel, where would you go and what time period would it be?
Matt: I would go to Europe post WW2, in the 1950s.
Q: What 3 famous people, living or dead would you invite to a dinner party?
Matt: Dwight D. Eisenhower, Elon Musk, and Robert Downey Jr.
Q: What is something that makes you feel hopeful for the future?
Matt: After having a child, I have hope. Having a daughter to inspire me to work on and repair some of these ongoing issues. Now, it is not just my future I’m invested in, I want to make sure she (and her future kids) have a great life.
Q: What is something that you are irrationally afraid of and why?
Matt: Clowns! Did you ever see the movie IT?! That shower scene haunts me.
Q: A sugar daddy buys you nice things, what does a “Splenda” daddy buy you?
Matt: He buys you all overpriced organic things.
Q: What can you talk about for hours?
Matt: Star Wars lore, I can talk about that for hours.
Q: Kim Kardashian’s hidden talent is smelling cavities. What’s your hidden talent?
Matt: Oh man, I can do the three leaf clover with my tongue… see?
If you liked this article, check out the rest of our feed at blog.fiveanddone.com. If you just like Matt, you can follow him on Instagram @ mattsand325, or just meet him at the gym lifting heavy to even heavier metal.
