Apr 5, 2022
Inside Noyo: Optimizing the means of success
Go inside Noyo with Connie Hildreth, Senior Engineer, as she shares what her day-to-day looks like coding solutions that continually improve our APIs’ user experiences and connection capabilities.
{"data":{},"content":[{"data":{},"content":[{"data":{},"marks":[{"type":"italic"}],"value":"A proper job requires the proper tools… but are those tools sharp? Tested? Ergonomic? Ready to streamline the task at hand rather than hinder it?","nodeType":"text"}],"nodeType":"paragraph"},{"data":{},"content":[{"data":{},"marks":[{"type":"italic"}],"value":"Noyo’s core API product is all about optimizing and transforming the tools people use every day for better and faster insurance experiences. But if our solution isn’t backed by efficient systems and processes that provide users with the control and accessibility they need, the entire aim of our company is in jeopardy. We need to consistently keep the structure of our product as polished as possible to maintain good workflow and superb integrations.","nodeType":"text"}],"nodeType":"paragraph"},{"data":{},"content":[{"data":{},"marks":[{"type":"italic"}],"value":"Noyo’s Senior Software Engineer Connie Hildreth (she/her) has been on the job since December 2020 and is focused on optimizing our product’s digital toolset. She creates coding solutions that continually improve our APIs’ user experiences and connection capabilities.","nodeType":"text"}],"nodeType":"paragraph"},{"data":{},"content":[{"data":{},"marks":[{"type":"bold"}],"value":"What is your role at Noyo and what's an exciting, challenging problem you're solving?","nodeType":"text"}],"nodeType":"heading-3"},{"data":{},"content":[{"data":{},"marks":[],"value":"I’m a senior software engineer and one of the leads of our Platform Experience and Group Connections team. I work mostly on the dashboard that’s used by our benefits administration platforms. Recently, our team has been dedicated to a ","nodeType":"text"},{"data":{"uri":"https://new.noyo.com/announcements/the-group-structure-mapping-tool-is-here"},"content":[{"data":{},"marks":[{"type":"underline"}],"value":"project that lets our users create rules about how the data in their systems relates to data in carrier systems","nodeType":"text"}],"nodeType":"hyperlink"},{"data":{},"marks":[],"value":".","nodeType":"text"}],"nodeType":"paragraph"},{"data":{},"content":[{"data":{},"marks":[{"type":"bold"}],"value":"What did your path to Noyo look like?","nodeType":"text"}],"nodeType":"heading-3"},{"data":{},"content":[{"data":{},"marks":[],"value":"When I first got out of college, I worked in animation and games. When I tell this story I worry that that sounds cooler than it was — my first job was answering emails written by angry fans of Facebook games. Fast forward a bit and I was working mostly on rigging (the process of defining the ways an animated model can move) at an animation studio that also sold commercial rigging tools. I became more and more involved in building those tools.","nodeType":"text"}],"nodeType":"paragraph"},{"data":{},"content":[{"data":{},"marks":[],"value":"By the time the studio I worked at shut down, I knew I really preferred the day to day of writing software to rigging, and I decided to make the jump into web development where I’ve been since. I was introduced to Noyo by a friend of mine who’s the designer on my team. I was so impressed with everyone I talked to during the interview process, and decided to join!","nodeType":"text"}],"nodeType":"paragraph"},{"data":{},"content":[{"data":{},"marks":[{"type":"bold"}],"value":"What excites you most about our industry, our product, or your role in general? ","nodeType":"text"}],"nodeType":"heading-3"},{"data":{},"content":[{"data":{},"marks":[],"value":"Before I was an engineer I had a job where, a few times a week, I’d get a list of 5-20 items that I had to enter one at a time, in a form. I had to select those items from a drop down with hundreds of entries, not in alphabetical order, and not searchable. I could never get that form improved, because it wasn’t considered broken.","nodeType":"text"}],"nodeType":"paragraph"},{"data":{},"content":[{"data":{},"marks":[],"value":"Because of those sorts of experiences, I feel really strongly about making sure that the software people use for work feel like tools rather than obstacles and it really energizes me to be part of that! Everyone has tasks at their job that aren’t their favorite and I love it when I’m able to build something that makes that part go faster, or require less triple-checking.","nodeType":"text"}],"nodeType":"paragraph"},{"data":{},"content":[{"data":{},"marks":[{"type":"bold"}],"value":"What does a typical day look like for you?","nodeType":"text"}],"nodeType":"heading-3"},{"data":{},"content":[{"data":{},"marks":[],"value":"I’m on eastern time, so Noyo’s core meeting hours are between 12 pm and 5 pm my time. That means my mornings are uninterrupted focus time, so I write and review a lot of my code then. Our team reviews designs and wireframes first asynchronously and meets if there are any questions that are better hashed out live. So depending on the day, I could be leaving questions or notes on a new feature, too.","nodeType":"text"}],"nodeType":"paragraph"},{"data":{},"content":[{"data":{},"marks":[],"value":"My team’s standup falls right after I get back from lunch. After that, my day really varies! I might be right back into a day full of code, I might be helping a team member with something challenging, or in planning meetings for an upcoming feature.","nodeType":"text"}],"nodeType":"paragraph"},{"data":{},"content":[{"data":{},"marks":[{"type":"bold"}],"value":"What are the top 3 reasons you stay at Noyo?","nodeType":"text"}],"nodeType":"heading-3"},{"data":{},"content":[{"data":{},"content":[{"data":{},"content":[{"data":{},"marks":[],"value":"I really love working with the people on my team.\n","nodeType":"text"}],"nodeType":"paragraph"}],"nodeType":"list-item"},{"data":{},"content":[{"data":{},"content":[{"data":{},"marks":[],"value":"What we’re building is really important! People rely on insurance – that’s the whole point, it’s in the word – but the systems behind it aren’t always as they ought to be.\n","nodeType":"text"}],"nodeType":"paragraph"}],"nodeType":"list-item"},{"data":{},"content":[{"data":{},"content":[{"data":{},"marks":[],"value":"My time inside and outside of work is always respected, which helps me to be a better engineer. I worried that working with so many people in a later time zone could really bleed into my evenings. Instead, I’ve been actively encouraged to keep evenings for myself.","nodeType":"text"}],"nodeType":"paragraph"}],"nodeType":"list-item"}],"nodeType":"ordered-list"},{"data":{},"content":[{"data":{},"marks":[{"type":"bold"}],"value":"What does success look like in your role and what skill set is most useful?","nodeType":"text"}],"nodeType":"heading-3"},{"data":{},"content":[{"data":{},"marks":[],"value":"On top of technical and people skills, I think curiosity is really important. When you’re working on a new feature that’s going to be user-facing, whether it’s an API or something on the front end, it helps to be curious about how it will work, why it’s useful, and how the pieces fit together. You’ll only scrape by if you’re hyper-focused on the part that you expect to write the code for.","nodeType":"text"}],"nodeType":"paragraph"},{"data":{},"content":[{"data":{},"marks":[],"value":"If everyone on the team seeks out that understanding, you’ll find you spot problems before they grow. Everyone will take care to note if proposed designs don’t reflect the architecture, if the architecture doesn’t solve the user’s problem, and if a proposed change still addresses a user’s need.","nodeType":"text"}],"nodeType":"paragraph"},{"data":{},"content":[{"data":{},"marks":[{"type":"bold"}],"value":"What’s your favorite Slack channel?","nodeType":"text"}],"nodeType":"heading-3"},{"data":{},"content":[{"data":{},"marks":[],"value":"I love #dumb-questions-only, the channel for questions you’re afraid to ask. I learn about something I wouldn’t have thought to ask all the time! Most of it is work related, but sometimes it’s about a gross bug someone found in their house.","nodeType":"text"}],"nodeType":"paragraph"},{"data":{},"content":[{"data":{},"marks":[{"type":"italic"}],"value":"Love reducing headaches in people’s careers? Always looking for the best way to implement new technology? If you have a knack for rising above the status quo, we want to hear from you! Check out our openings ","nodeType":"text"},{"data":{"uri":"https://www.noyo.com/careers"},"content":[{"data":{},"marks":[{"type":"italic"},{"type":"underline"}],"value":"here","nodeType":"text"}],"nodeType":"hyperlink"},{"data":{},"marks":[{"type":"italic"}],"value":".","nodeType":"text"}],"nodeType":"paragraph"}],"nodeType":"document"}