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Employee Spotlight: Sam, Software Development Manager
111 Plays4 years ago
In this episode of the Direct Farm Podcast, we're excited to host Sam one of Barn2Door's very own Software Development Managers. Listen as he shares how he came to join the team and and how he was able to grow with Barn2Door.
Show Notes:
https://barn2door.com/careers
https://www.barn2door.com/blog/employee-spotlight-sam-software-development-manager?rq=employee%20spotlight
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Transcript
Introduction to Farm Success Levers
00:00:02
Speaker
Welcome to the Direct Farm podcast, the weekly listen for farm selling direct. We'll talk about the four levers for farm success, which are quality, brand, price, and convenience. We'll hear from outside industry experts and producers like you to delight your customers, save time, and to increase your direct farm sales and business. We're glad you're here.
Spotlight on Sam from Barnadore
00:00:26
Speaker
Welcome back to the Direct Forum Podcast, everybody. My name is Sebastian on the marketing team. Today we have an employee spotlight here with Sam. Sam, could you introduce yourself for all of the listeners that are listening? Yeah. So hi, I'm Sam. I'm a software development manager at Barnadore and I've been working here since May of 2017. So about four years now. I was going to ask you, like how long have you been here? But you've been here pretty much since the beginning event at Barnadore or pretty near the beginning.
00:00:53
Speaker
Uh, yeah, Barnadore was founded in 2015. So I joined a couple of years after, but yeah, it's been quite a journey, a wild ride I'd say. Yeah. So you've seen everything from like all the ups and downs and how have you kind of seen a change or evolve over these last four years you've fit here? Yeah. I started off actually as a software development intern, just as a summer job while I was in college. And then that transformed into the full-time job after I graduated, which was a great opportunity. But in terms of how, how it's changed, oh, I can, there's a million ways I can answer that question.
00:01:23
Speaker
I mean, first, the most obvious one is just the number
Barnadore's Growth and Sam's Role
00:01:27
Speaker
of employees. Back when I started, it was me, one other intern, and then Janelle, the CEO. And then now the company's much larger than that. And there's different departments and just much more of a real company at this point. Back then, there wasn't an office. So you were coding at Janelle's basement, right? Exactly. Yeah. I'd go to her house, walk down the stairs, and my office was a basement. Yeah, exactly.
00:01:50
Speaker
As a software development manager, can you kind of walk me through what your day-to-day responsibilities are like and then any challenges or any favorite parts that you have? Yeah, for sure. So my primary role as a software development manager is just making sure the engineering team, all the individual developers are
00:02:08
Speaker
Unblocked and able to build out features and work productively without any issues. So that requires meeting with them daily to make sure they're working on their tasks and that they understand what they're supposed to be working on. And then also just checking in with them to answer any technical questions as kind of a senior engineer kind of role and ensuring that the code they write is scalable and maintainable and just provides a great user experience for all the farmers on the platform.
00:02:34
Speaker
One of the most difficult aspects I would say is time management would probably be the biggest one. As a software development manager, I have to always be on the top of my game in terms of organization and, you know, Barnador can be working on anywhere between one and.
00:02:49
Speaker
10 features all at the same time, so making sure that I understand what everyone is working on, well enough to make sure that they understand what they're working on is a big part of the job. Since you also have to kind of be a resource for all the team members there, your hands are in a lot of pies. Exactly, yes. Right, right. Yeah, definitely have to wear many hats at the start of the... Yes, for sure. How would you describe, you know, what's really different about working at Pardador versus anywhere else that you've ever been, or have you ever seen?
00:03:15
Speaker
Yeah, I'd say the biggest difference at Bar Under Door is the ownership of the, the works that you're doing. So at Bar Under Door and the engineering organization, you own a feature that you're working on from the bottom up. You decide how to build it, the best ways to implement it, and then even the best.
00:03:31
Speaker
plan to roll it out to the customers and all of the farmers who will then use the feature. So at other organizations, that's like four different departments doing all of that. And you're just a small piece of the puzzle. Whereas at Bartender Door, you are the sole person in charge with just some people on top, making sure that you're doing it correctly and nothing is going to fall through the cracks. So that's probably the biggest difference.
00:03:54
Speaker
What is unique about building software for farmers?
Engineering Challenges in Farming Software
00:03:57
Speaker
Yeah, I'd say the most unique aspect about building software for farmers would be all of the different edge cases is what we call them that farmers deal with on a day to day basis. So on a standard e-commerce platform, you're mostly just thinking about
00:04:09
Speaker
products and how you get it to the consumer's hands. But at Barnadore, we also have to think about what type of product the person is selling. So a vegetable produce farmer could be a much different use case than a meat or like a honey farmer, for instance. The way they need to sell their products is just vastly different. And our platform has to work best for all of them, not just a single use case as well.
00:04:33
Speaker
Being here for as long as you have Sam, why do you like working at Barnadore? My favorite thing about working at Barnadore is the unique challenges that we face every day. And they come from all different angles. So the first one is like, how do you turn a company of two or three people working out of the CEO's basement and do a company working in an office with a bunch of different departments and making sure everybody's working towards the same goal and on the same page. So that kind of operational scaling of a business aspect is super interesting and it's great to be on the ground.
00:05:03
Speaker
floor of that and seeing it happen in real time. How would you describe what the culture is like
Barnadore's Culture and Opportunities
00:05:08
Speaker
here? I guess on the engineering-specific team, one of the biggest core values that I think applies to us is hungry. We're always trying to better ourselves. And as I said, ownership is a huge part of the engineering organization. You own a task from the beginning until it makes it into a farmer's hands and even beyond that in terms of maintenance. So you have to be hungry and you have to know what you want and be confident in yourself to build it out or learn
00:05:33
Speaker
how to build it. And then I'd say that even extends beyond the engineering department. Everybody is here at a startup putting on many hats and doing things they probably never have done before, or were doing for the first time. And we're excelling and everybody is just doing a great job. They really have to come in with that gusto, you know, that even if they aren't necessarily prepared for it, they have to be prepared to take on the challenge, right, and learn about it. And they might not be perfect the first time, but we're always refining each other's skills and always trying to
00:06:02
Speaker
That last question and a half for you, is there anything you would like to say for anybody that's potentially looking to apply at Barnadore or any potential team members, maybe any words of advice for them? Yeah. Ooh, that's a good question. Hmm. I mean, the biggest advice I would have is if you're thinking about applying, just apply. And, you know, we're a great team to work for and there's tons of opportunity and you'll learn a lot and you'll learn. So if you're interested in software engineering or any of the departments at Barnadore, like, you know, we're more than happy to add forward to the team.
00:06:32
Speaker
All righty, well, Sam, thank you so much for coming on to the podcast today. It was a pleasure talking with you and getting to learn a little bit about your history here at Barnadore and what your experience has been like.
Conclusion and Call to Action
00:06:45
Speaker
Thank you for listening to this episode of the Direct Farm podcast. You can subscribe anywhere you listen to podcasts to automatically download new episodes. For more free resources that you can read, watch, and listen to, visit farntador.com slash resources. Thank you again for tuning in and we'll see you again next week.