Unbouncers Uncovered: Embracing the Unknown to Create Change
Hi there! Welcome to our new multi-part series where we’ll share with you stories from the talented people behind the landing page builder — Unbounce. Who better to tell you what it’s like inside our offices (and, frankly, now working remotely from the comfort of our homes around the world) than our wonderful Unbouncers themselves.
Meet Pablo Arellano. Pablo joined us in September 2020 as a Software Developer for our Data Products team, right in the thick of the COVID-19 pandemic.
If you ever have the chance to meet Pablo, you’ll quickly learn that his family and home are very important to him. He loves to travel the world (back when we could, anyway) — but out of all the places he’s gone, returning to Mexico and spending time with loved ones is his favourite trip. To Pablo, it’s not just about the place. It’s the people that make somewhere special.
While having a conversation with Pablo, you’ll also learn that he has a knack for dad jokes. He’ll find any opportunity to insert a well placed dad joke to enhance a conversation.
We took some time to speak with Pablo to learn about how his first nine months at Unbounce have gone and what’s going on behind the scenes of our builder.
Tell us: How did you end up at Unbounce?
I moved to Vancouver seven years ago. In the beginning, it was hard to adapt to a new culture and try to break into the tech industry. Coming from another country, I had a background in Engineering, which is the field that I work in now, but I also have experience working in Marketing. So I had to figure out what I wanted to do.
I started working for a small tech startup. I loved it and was super happy there. Because of that experience, I decided I only wanted to work at small companies. Unbounce wasn’t a startup when I heard about it. But I met some Unbouncers, and I had really good conversations with them. That’s what got me interested in the company.
When I saw an opening for a position I was interested in, I jumped at it. Even though Unbounce is growing, you still feel the similarities of a small company culture. What I really like about Unbounce is that I feel like my voice is listened to around the company.
What does your day-to-day look like? What are you working on?
I work for Data Products on the prototyping squad, and I absolutely love it. We run experiments and build prototypes to be tested. Every day, I feel like I’m playing — trying new things and seeing what works.
These experiments help guide the direction of our products. They give us answers to the questions we have. “What do our customers want? What would make the platform more valuable?” I’m a person who likes change, and I get that through my job. It goes really well with my personality.
My main task is to build. For example, we recently launched the Unbounce Copy Optimizer, which is an experimental tool. Marketers can input their landing page copy, and the Copy Optimizer uses machine learning to make recommendations to help them get more conversions.
With this experiment, we’re trying to see if marketers trust machine learning to build out and write the copy for a landing page. We’re looking to see how they react to these kinds of tools — and if it works, we can make them available in our core product.
What’s something that you’re passionate about?
I have three main passions. The first is building. As a developer, I’m really passionate about building new things for users and seeing how they react. I also love sports, particularly soccer. It helps keep balance to my mind and body. And finally, I love traveling. I like learning about new cultures and people. That’s one of the main reasons I’m still in Vancouver — because you can learn a lot about different cultures.
If you had to give advice to your younger self, what would it be?
I love change — but when I was younger, I didn’t have enough patience. I changed careers, I changed jobs, I changed everything, because I needed something different all the time, I wasn’t building any foundations. So, I would tell myself to be patient. Change can be something really good, but as with anything in life, balance is the key. I would tell my younger self to slow down.
What’s something you’ve been able to achieve at Unbounce that you’re proud of?
I’m working on the prototyping squad, and when I joined, we didn’t have the infrastructure to launch new projects quickly. I’m really proud that now we have the processes in place to conduct faster, higher-quality experiments. That’s something I wasn’t able to do in the beginning.
At Unbounce we have many ‘fun’ Slack channels that have nothing to do with our work. What is your favourite Slack channel?
The #daily-dog. When you see all the puppies in the morning, it makes your day better. I love them all! The problem is that now I want one but my apartment isn’t big enough for that. 🐶
Everyone at Unbounce plays a different role when it comes to supporting the business. Pablo is one of the many Unbouncers who gets hands-on with our product every day. He gets to fulfill his passion for change through his work by building and developing everyday. Looking back at Pablo’s journey to Unbounce, we can see the underlying theme of change. From moving countries to joining Unbounce (a larger-sized company than he was used to), Pablo has embraced change with courage and ambition — two of Unbounce’s core values.
At Unbounce, diversity is at the forefront of our minds, and we celebrate the uniqueness of each Unbouncer and the talent that they bring to the table. Our people-first culture allows us to create an environment where Unbouncers feel CARED for and can do their best work. Unbounce is one of Canada’s fastest-growing tech companies and is the world’s leading landing page platform with a workplace of over 200 people who really, truly care about one another and 20+ very good office dogs.
If you’re interested in levelling up your career with Unbounce, check out our careers website to learn more about joining our team.
