Architecture Design, Onboarding Engineers & Planning for Scale: Why Madeline Neumiller is #BlueToTheCore
At Bluecore, we put our people front and center in everything we do. To better understand what makes our diverse team tick and really get to know the individuals that make up our people machine, we decided to find out why different Bluecorians are #BlueToTheCore.
Today’s interview is with Madeline Neumiller, Software Engineer. Madeline first joined Bluecore in May 2018. When she’s not writing code, Madeline stays busy honing her balcony gardening skills and kickboxing — she’s even preparing for a competition.
Tara Sussman: Tell me about the path that led you to Bluecore.
Madeline Neumiller: I was working in Boston at Dell EMC after school and I found myself traveling to NYC often, so I decided to make the move. Along with the city change, I knew I wanted to work for a smaller company where I could make more of a direct impact and gain more insight into things I was completely disconnected from at such a large company. I researched Glassdoor Best Companies and found Bluecore. I enjoyed talking to everyone that I interviewed with and so here I am.
TS: What does your typical day at work look like?
MN: I’m on Engineering’s data intake team and I focus on infrastructure, including how data is received and stored. My day varies based on where we are in projects, so lately I spend a lot of time meeting with various R&D stakeholders to figure out project requirements and how we can make the system scale properly to meet our needs. I collaborate with other engineers, product managers and our forward deployed engineers. I also spend time reviewing and writing code myself, which is always a good way for me to recharge.
TS: Which Bluecore value do you most represent?
MN: As simple as possible, as powerful as necessary. It’s very easy for engineers to ‘over-engineer’ initiatives and stretch timelines. My first goal is to get out the simplest solution first and see if it solves our needs. My second goal is to make sure new people who join our team can ramp up easily with little context. Like the future Bluecore engineers who may end up debugging my code!
TS: What is the coolest thing you are working on right now?
MN: As a high growth tech company, it’s important that we scale and keep our eye on costs. We have started to rethink how we structure data, from how we are storing it in databases to how we interact with it. This has a lot of opportunities for design and innovation, which is cool. For example, right now I’m developing architecture design proposals to make our system more efficient and powerful.
TS: If you could switch jobs with anyone, who would it be?
MN: One of the Product Marketing Managers. It’s a very different skill set that requires a lot of creativity and design. It would be exciting to work on shaping the brand and how to communicate that in the market.
TS: What are you most looking forward to accomplishing this year?
MN: We are hiring more engineers and I am supporting onboarding, so I’m excited about helping everyone succeed in any way I can and continuing to build a great culture.
TS: What are you most proud of, either personally or professionally?
MN: Reflecting on my year here, I’m most proud of how far I’ve grown both technology-wise and in terms of people and presentation skills. And that I haven’t killed my tomatoes on my balcony yet.
TS: What keeps you at Bluecore?
MN: The people, working with them and learning from them. They are passionate about our product and it’s the best working environment.
TS: What is your secret talent that no one knows about?
MN: I’m pretty good at photoshop and video editing. I minored in Film and Media in college, I love it and I do it for family and friends. Just don’t share that with anyone here.
