ShopRunner Spotlights: Ali Vanderveld
Here at ShopRunner we believe that it’s our differences that makes us great. We pride ourselves in being a team full of diverse individuals who all bring their own unique perspectives and ideas to the table. So what does that look like, you ask? Well, follow along as we get up close and personal with one of our awesome ShopRunner team members each month to get a look into their life in and out of the office.
Name: Ali Vanderveld
Pronouns: she/her
Role/Title: Director of Data Science
How long have you been at ShopRunner? Almost a year and a half
What do you do all day?
I spend most of the day communicating in one way or another — spending time with my team members, recruiting, keeping our priorities aligned and on track, and basically making sure that all of the data science at ShopRunner is done efficiently and by a fantastic team of happy, engaged people. I also give a few conference talks per year, so I find the time to work on those. I also try to spend a little time here and there making sure that I remember what code looks like, mostly by doing code reviews for the new stuff my team builds, but I also try to do smaller technical tasks whenever I can. I have a lot of meetings but staying technically engaged keeps me sane.
Astrological sign. Do you believe in astrology?
I am a libra, but I don’t believe that it means anything. Studying astrophysics for 12 years made sure of that!
What should people know about ShopRunner?
That we are not a “shipping company”! We are a tech company that is working on so much more to help retailers compete in the new, fast-paced e-commerce world — like building tools for our partners such as express checkout and sophisticated recommendation systems.
When you’re not at ShopRunner, what do you like to do?
On evenings and weekends I train at a Chicago circus school called Aloft. I’ve been doing aerial there for about 9 years now. I occasionally perform on aerial silks or on my personal apparatus, double ropes, usually to some sort of rock / metal music. I’m also studying Spanish, and I’m a devoted cat mom.
What’s your favorite SR retailer?
New York and Company
What’s the last thing you bought online?
Indian food, via Grubhub
Tell us about your favorite slack channel at SR:
#catsofshoprunner, no question. Pretty self-explanatory.
What’s your favorite way to shop?
I actually hate shopping! I only ever buy things when I know exactly what I need and I can find it easily on the site of one of my go-to retailers. This leads to some unintentional frugality. I still wear a hoodie that I bought 15 years ago (the strings fell apart and the tab of the zipper broke off, but it’s still good).
Have you ever worked in retail?
Yep, my first job was at a farm stand and then my second job was as a cashier at PetSmart.
Give us your most inspiring bit of advice:
Uh, wow, this one is a lot harder than asking my favorite Slack channel. I guess I would say to anyone out there who is starting out in their data science career — always keep learning new things. If you ever find yourself getting into a rut and doing the same thing over and over, then it’s probably time to move to a new project or team that’s doing stuff that’s new to you. It can be a bit scary to not know stuff (and nice and comfortable to just know stuff), but that’s how you develop the skills that you need to be successful for the rest of your career. And tech is constantly changing, so the ability to stay up-to-date is always going to be a key to success.
