Open Book: Emeka Ezekwe

Open Book is a series of interviews for you to get to know the incredible people of Opendoor. Hear from Emeka on his experience working at Opendoor, supporting our Homes teams through technology, and his new penchant for archery.

What do you do at Opendoor?

I work as a tech lead on the Operational Efficiency Team. The Operational Efficiency (or OpsFx) team builds tools that help Opendoor employees perform home operation tasks. Our team’s mission is to build technology and develop processes to offer a frictionless experience for folks who sell their homes to Opendoor.

What exactly is home operations?

Home operations consists of a variety of workflows that our team performs as a home makes its way through Opendoor’s pipeline. Roughly speaking, the work for our team begins when an inspection is performed on a home and ends after the home has been resold.

Why did you join Opendoor?

I was looking for a company with a strong engineering culture where people are fun, friendly, and motivated. I also wanted to be part of an organization where my contributions could have a large impact on the organization’s overall success. During the time that I joined, Opendoor was just entering a significant growth phase. Since then, the work I am doing to create impact hasn’t slowed down and we are still growing!

What are the most exciting challenges your team faces in Home Operations?

Opendoor is revolutionizing the execution of a real estate transaction via technological improvements. Though my team is one of many tackling this massive challenge, we’ve done so much around streamlining the management of Opendoor’s construction projects and revamping our process for home inspections! I would say that the most exciting challenge for me right now is around building tools that allow our operators (project managers and operations coordinators) to perform their tasks effectively, efficiently, and (most importantly) pleasantly.

How do you like to spend your free time?

I like to lift weights and grapple for exercise. An embarrassingly large amount of my time is dedicated to/wasted on watching combat sports. I am very much looking forward to some of the fights that are going to happen this year!

I also enjoy spending time at the archery range with the doggo. I picked up archery while recovering from a ruptured Achilles tendon 🤕 Historically I’ve been pretty awful at sports that require hand/eye coordination but I am loving archery! I really enjoy cooking so I am angling to harvest wild game with my bow as ingredients for my favorite recipes.

What are you looking forward to most in 2021?

I have adjusted pretty well to working from home, but I am looking forward to when my colleagues and I can safely return to the office. I do miss the personal interactions and spontaneous conversations that build strong working relationships and generate creative ideas. I also have so much travel lined up for 2021! As soon as we got our COVID shots my girlfriend and I booked a trip to Mexico City. I am also looking forward to going back to restaurants, visiting comedy clubs, and even hitting up some karaoke bars. 🎤

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