Solving Problems, Optimizing for Impact & Building Relationships: Why Francis Rocco 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 Francis Rocco, Senior Forward Deployed Engineer. Francis first joined Bluecore in March 2017. When he’s not at work, Francis is running marathons — his goal is to run all 6 world marathons and he’s only halfway there!
Tara Sussman: Tell me about the path that led you to Bluecore.
Francis Rocco: I went to school for chemical engineering but quickly decided it’s not what I wanted to do. The industry is very traditional, so it moves slowly with no room for innovation. I decided to go to Flatiron School for coding bootcamp because I was drawn to the problem-solving part of coding. Bluecore was actually my first job out of that coding bootcamp. I knew someone at Bluecore who referred me. We still work together to this day.
TS: What does your typical day at work look like?
FR: As a Forward Deployed Engineer, my main responsibility is to serve as the first-line technical contact for our clients. Half of my day is client-facing and the other half is coding and solving workflow issues. The morning is filled with client status calls that I join to understand client requests, and then I execute on those deliverables. I support 10–15 clients, mostly enterprise retailers. Being the first line of defense for clients means I reprioritize tasks throughout the day. At any moment a client can have an issue with the platform that affects their marketing campaigns and resolving it becomes my priority.
TS: Which Bluecore value do you most represent?
FR: Optimize for impact. I spend most of my time creating technical solutions for client requests, and I always focus on the solution that will deliver the greatest value. Recognizing what will have the most impact for our clients sometimes means creating a bigger solution than what they had in mind.
TS: What is the coolest thing you are working on right now?
FR: Our Smart PromoTM feature. I set up product recommendations and testing for client campaigns in Bluecore’s platform and when I’m monitoring those recommendations, I get to see Smart Promo in action. The AI model learns customer shopping patterns and predicts personalized content for the most successful campaigns. That’s impact.
TS: If you could switch jobs with anyone, who would it be?
FR: A product manager. They get to make all the cool decisions that impact our roadmap! They determine what products we develop and release and what impact it will have for Bluecore.
TS: What are you most looking forward to accomplishing this year?
FR: Being recently promoted, I’m excited to take on more of a leadership role on the team and help support and mentor the newcomers.
TS: What are you most proud of, either personally or professionally?
FR: I’m most proud of the relationships I’ve developed at Bluecore internally and with my clients. Bluecore is a collaborative place, so I get to take advantage of that and learn about people in other departments. I get to know how we can better work together while creating personal bonds with people from different walks of life.
TS: What keeps you at Bluecore?
FR: The people for sure. Bluecore does a good job of hiring smart, personable and innovative people.
TS: What is your secret talent that no one knows about?
FR: Keeping cool when I meet celebrities, because I meet a lot of them in NYC. I used to work at the Standard Hotel and Tom Brady and Gisele would request my section!
