Technologist Spotlight: Nick Rizzo

Hi! My name is Nick. I recently joined Strategio’s tech Simulator after completing a Full Stack Web Development bootcamp. I have a Computer Science degree as well as some experience working as an iOS Mobile Developer.

Describe yourself in 3 words

I would describe myself as Team-Oriented, Fair, and Curious. My favorite memories and experiences involve working on a team while teaching and learning from others. I get a lot of satisfaction from being on a team that works well together and is efficient and effective at executing tasks. Building off of my love of teamwork, I think it’s important to also maintain a high degree of fairness. At its core, fairness serves the ideal of performance because fairness shifts the team’s mindset toward equal treatment and equal expectation. I believe that this mindset empowers people to take ownership of themselves and their work. Lastly, it would be accurate to say that I’m curious. I always have an itch to go deeper and get more granular on a subject. This is a blessing and a curse as I am forced to balance spending a lot time acquiring a truly flexible understanding of a topic with working in a black-box manner that lets me quickly interact with the subject and get things done.

Why did you join Strategio’s Simulator?

I realized that it’s often better to jump into an opportunity than to wait around trying to capture the perfect opportunity. Whoever said I know what the perfect opportunity looks like anyway? Furthermore, a career is built on many steps, not one giant leap. In that regard, I think Strategio is an excellent step because it offers a paid Simulator program that will teach me a subject that I haven’t studied before. It was obvious to me that Strategio was the right choice and would lead me to the next step in my tech career.

What were you doing before you joined Strategio?

I was working in a hybrid office-warehouse on the hardware shipping team for Toast, Inc. This is a position that taught me a ton about what I like in a team as well as what I want from my career. During my employment there I constantly thought about the processes and software that we used every day. I was extremely interested in thinking about ways to improve these systems and even automated a small part of my own job there as a proof of concept. I then joined a web development bootcamp to learn about modern technologies for building websites because I realized that a lot of internal software tools that companies use are website/web app based. Now I’m at Strategio further developing my understanding of software automation by learning Dev Ops.

What are you most excited about this year?

I am most excited about starting a new chapter in my technology career. It’s been almost a year since I started the Web Development bootcamp, and at this point I am eager to start applying what I’ve learned in a real world environment.

What made you decide to get into tech?

I got into tech because it’s arguably the field with the highest force multipliers ever created. With just a computer and a small amount of money a single person or small group of people can start the world’s biggest companies. My aim is much more humble, but the underlying concept remains: technology empowers. With enough patience and effort, I can solve many software based problems for myself or for others. The most exciting thing I can think of is having the ability and opportunity to improve things that directly affect people. Technology at its best is about freeing human time and energy to be spent doing more productive and meaningful things.

What do you like to do during your spare time?

I like to lift weights, bike outside, listen to music, and play competitive team-based video games. Exercise, especially while outside, is the best way to reset my mind and gain clarity in my thinking. It’s pretty much a necessity for me after staring at a screen for too long! I love music deeply. A few of my favorite and diverse artists/bands are Pinegrove, Meshuggah, and Abul Mogard. The off-kilter, meandering, Americana lyrics of Pinegrove always puts me in a good mood. The brutal bombardment of Meshuggah makes me feel like I could lift any weight in the gym. The pensive drone of Abul Mogard focuses my attention to a pinpoint. Video games have always been a source of joy for me. I currently alternate between playing campy twenty year old puzzle games like the Resident Evil franchise with my brother and fast paced FPS team games like Apex Legends with my friends.

What is your favorite cultural value at Strategio?

My favorite value is the diversity in the Strategio community. Diversity in culture as well as diversity in knowledge always makes for a fun and interesting community. No two technologists come from the same place or know the same things, so you’re guaranteed to learn something new every time you talk to someone in the program.

If you could travel anywhere in the world, where would you go?

This is an impossible question to answer! I’m a massive lover of natural landscapes, so basically anywhere in the world would be great. If I had to choose…I think Chile, Africa, or Iceland would all be amazing places to visit. Literally any country in the world would offer a landscape I’ve never seen before so maybe I’ll get a map out and throw a dart!

What’s your favorite restaurant?

Oishii Too Sushi Bar in Boston is my favorite restaurant ever. I will never get sick of Sushi.

What are you looking forward to learning/gaining during the Strategio Simulator?

I have no experience with cloud technologies like AWS, so I’m excited to learn more about that. I think getting DevOps training is a great addendum to my Web Development training because it rounds out my understanding of the other half of software development. I learned about building software from that bootcamp; now I hope to learn about testing, integrating, and deploying that software.