Q: Start off by telling us what you do at Draft?
Jose : All right. Well, I am a Software Developer. Basically, I work for the marketplace team. Our team is focused on improving the whole marketplace experience, working on getting the best matching system for our writers to be able to claim the best jobs from our customers.
Q: What would you say is your favourite thing about working at Draft?
Jose : Oh, well, there are a bunch of things. I would say that the main thing is that the way we are encouraged, not only enabled, but truly encouraged to take on new things/new challenges. That’s something I always say to candidates we are interviewing.
Q: As a remote first company, how do you motivate yourself?
Jose : Day to day, it does not feel like work at all if we are doing it correctly. We do a lot of off topic discussions so we’re always engaged with the team. But that also translates into a very good collaboration. It makes it feel like we’re never working by ourselves in an isolated environment. But we’re always making sure that everybody has at least some context of what we’re working on. It gives insight into what everyone else is working on.
Q: What is something that most people at Draft don’t know about you?
Jose : I tend to get injured a lot, accident prone. I have very bad luck with trying new stuff, because I always tend to get injured.
Q: What would you say is your favourite location that you’ve travelled to?
Jose : I haven’t travelled too much outside of America. As you know, very recently (like a couple of months ago), I moved to Canada Indefinitely. So that was fun! Besides that I travelled last year to Ushuaia, which is in Argentina. It’s the southernmost city in the world. And yeah, it was really fun. It was the first time I got to see the snow. It’s like a very industrial city, but it’s also very touristic. It’s a very nice place to visit.
Q: What did you want to be when growing up?
Jose : Oh, that’s a good one! I was always like a tinker of some sort. I always liked to pry. Open stuff to see how they work. I never knew what I was doing, but I always knew, there’s something to be done there,and that translated into me wanting to be an engineer. I ended up becoming an electronic engineer. That also pushed me in the direction of learning how things work and knowing how to control them. I wanted to create things, but the reality in the electronics world is so much different, so I became a developer to create my own things on a computer”
Q: If you could have dinner with one fictional character, who would it be?
Jose : I think it would definitely be Gandalf. Yeah, he’s seen some stuff. I’d like to know what’s going on in his mind.
Q: Do you have a motto or a personal mantra that you keep in the back of your head?
Jose : Actually, I do. It’s weird because I never intended to. There is one quote from a comedy TV show (Scrubs) where there’s one doctor who is the head of the hospital that gets mad that people are avoiding some stuff going on in their life. He basically says that nothing in this life that’s worth doing comes easy. Always gets me through difficult times, you know. Okay, So I guess Dr. Kelso is right about this one.
Q :What do you like to do in your spare time?
Jose : Right now, I’m focused on exploring. I just moved to Toronto recently. I also moved to Argentina six years ago, and that was all new to me as well, so I like to do a lot of exploring, walking around and getting to see various things. I like to play games a lot as well, not as much as other people on the team but I enjoy it as one of my core leisure activities.
Q: What is one thing that you can’t live without?
Jose : Music. I always carry a good pair of headphones in my pocket. I never travel outside of my home with at least a couple of wireless headphones.
