Before we get down to the nitty-gritty with John’s interview, there are two things we (Net-Results) think you should know about John:
- He’s a hardworking, talented software engineer
- He’s arguably the kindest person you’ll ever meet
Seriously! Here at Net-Results, John is the person who will make someone’s day without even thinking about it.
Between his remarkable ability to ask intriguing, thought-provoking questions at every staff meeting to his supportive, positive replies on daily Slack threads — John is one of a kind and we’re thrilled to officially introduce him to you, our readers!
So without further ado, kick back and read all about our very own John Etchason.
How long have you worked at NR?
Since June 1, 2020. Plus two summer internships prior to that.
Have you always had an interest in software development/engineering? What initially sparked your interest?
I always thought it’s a really powerful skill to be able to make software. For the most part, it was a mystery to me how that could be done until I started studying Computer Science halfway through my sophomore year of college. I chose that major because there seemed to be plenty of different applications. It sounded worth the effort because of that and I was curious about how these kinds of things work. My couple of summer internships here at Net-Results also helped accelerate that understanding with real-world examples.
What was the process like going from intern to full-time software engineer?
Moving into the new role, I got the opportunity to work on the Net-Results application. During my previous internships, I had only worked on the Intranet which is a set of internal tools for our employees. Also, I now get to work with our Customer Success team to help remedy any problems customers might encounter.
On a scale of 1-10, how difficult is it to learn code? (asking for a friend…😂 )
I think it depends. Maybe a 6 or 7 for me personally. When I took my first class, it was definitely challenging! That class taught the basics of C++ and Python. A good, free resource is w3schools.com. They have some basic tutorials for those languages. I also used that website to learn about SQL databases starting my first internship.
What’s your favorite thing about working on the Product Team?
We recently started doing demos for the whole company, which means showing off the notable features that were worked on in the last 2 weeks (the amount of time our Agile “Sprint” takes). I like this recent addition since the more demo-able content there is, the more we achieved!
What does a typical workday look like for you? Has working from home changed how you work?
The commute is a lot simpler, that’s for sure! What a day looks like depends on the “Ticket Cop” rotation (person who helps Customer Success with bugs & requests). If it’s not my turn, I’ll be working exclusively on features we’ve planned. If it is my turn, I’ll only be working on features if there are no tickets from customers that need my attention. Besides that, we always have daily stand-up meetings where each team member briefly reports progress and we collaborate on anything slowing the team down. If it’s the end of a sprint, we talk about what went well and what didn’t go well over that period of time and finalize what we’re going to work on next time.
What’s your favorite feature of the Net-Results platform?
Segments! They’re kind of the backbone of the platform. Not only do they allow all campaigns to work, but they also have applications like dynamic content in emails. With dynamic content, you could have many different versions of one email all in one place. The email variant a given contact would receive would depend on the same segment logic we use for campaigns. What a section of the email says could be based on any contact attribute or a set of them!
What’s the most challenging, yet rewarding, part of your job?
Finding out how something works and fixing a problem with it is definitely rewarding. Especially if that improves the user experience! How challenging that is depends, but it’s usually up there!
The holiday season is quickly approaching! What holiday are you most excited for?
I like all the holidays. This year I’m especially excited for Halloween because my dachshunds can dress up as hot dogs!
If you were a superhero, what would be your unique superpower?
That’s a tough question. I’ve been told I have a pretty good squat, and I like to ski, so maybe I transform into a T-rex? 😂
Every team needs someone like John. He shows up to work every day with his killer software engineering skills.
But more importantly, he never forgets to bring his positive, uplifting attitude. Thank you for all you do for our Net-Results fam, Mister Etchason.
Next month, we will be back to releasing some new Platform Updates (spoiler alert: John built a cool new feature that he’s excited to share with all y’all)!
But don’t worry, we’re still going to release more interviews with our Product Team in the very near future 😊
Cheers,
Lexie Robbins
Digital Marketing Specialist
