BigTime is dedicated to making sure our customers have the best product, and without our team that would not be possible. In this blog series, we will be highlighting our employees and shining more light on them, both professionally and personally.
This month, we are celebrating one of our Senior Developers from our Phoenix office, Angel Rodriguez. Keep on reading to learn more about this BigTimer!
What does your role as Senior Developer entail?
A big part of my day is going through and answering assigned tickets. People assume we code all day but there is so much more that goes into it, like research, planning, and discussions. As much as we’re called “coders”, very little time is actually devoted to coding— it mostly includes the pre-work around it. Because I’m a Senior Developer here, I’m one of the go-to people to help solve issues. I take a lot of calls from teammates and anybody who needs help walking through something.
What inspired you to first get involved in development?
I’m very inspired by art and creation. Prior to being a developer, I tried creating for YouTube, a little bit of art and music— anything where I could create with purpose.
I took a gaming course in college and I got to the point where there was a limitation in the software we were using. When I learned that I could write code for it and add in anything I wanted, I fell in love with the idea of being able to create a full new playground.
The more I learned, the more I fell in love with the creation, rules, and structures of all this code. It’s a beautiful mess— with code it’s technically clean and there are rules, but if you look at it from an outside perspective, you’d be like ‘what the heck is going on here?’ It’s fun to make that into something. Just getting in there and putting the pieces together and creating something awesome. That’s my biggest inspiration.
That’s so cool that creation and the arts have played a role in your development journey. How did that lead you to your role at BigTime?
I was a Software Developer at my last company for 3 years and then Covid hit so we all started working from home and I loved that flexibility. Before that, I was in a suit and tie, getting up at 5 a.m., and driving an hour to work every day. Developers don’t belong in suits.
My daughter was also born during that time so it was awesome to be at home with her, while still working well and getting things done. Once Covid ended and they wanted us all back in the office 5 days a week, I knew I wanted a change. I started looking around at who was hiring with remote options and came across BigTime where Bart easily pulled me in.
How much have you grown professionally and personally since joining BigTime?
With development, there are so many areas— there’s the front-end which is the visuals that users see, there’s the back-end, there’s database work, and there are architects who discuss how the code should be looking.
At my previous job, every single component of that was separate. I was only doing front-end work which didn’t give me much room for growth. At BigTime, it’s a full-stack position where I’m able to do every part of development and luckily, everybody at BigTime was so willing to help me learn. Everyone teaches each other while simultaneously learning. Recently, we’ve hired more people with different knowledge so it’s been awesome to pick their brains and learn from them.
Is there a large project you have been a part of here that you’re the most proud of?
There are two actually! The first one was the redesign of the website that was happening when I first started. Since I came in as a front-end developer, I got to help change it to the way it is now, so that was probably my biggest project.
The second is our new staff homepage. I got to lead that project from the ground up and build it the way I wanted to build it, with the help of our developers. The page is beautiful and is my best work. I can’t wait for everybody to see it with all the animations completed, it’s going to be awesome.
Would you say your development team is the best part of working here?
It’s not just the developers, it’s the whole team. Whether it’s someone in product, sales, or any department, I feel that everyone at BigTime has that same drive to be teaching and learning.
What is the best advice you have for someone just starting out in their career?
It’s important to find happiness in balance. Be passionate about work but don’t take it too personally. Work in a way that best suits you and stay mindful about your coworkers and how they work. Strive for new goals and positions, but also enjoy your current place and make the most of it.
Tell me about yourself and what you like to do outside of work
Family is so important to me. Both my wife and I come from large families so between us we have around 60 relatives within a 10-mile radius. It’s really fun now that I have my daughter as well to see her growing up with her cousins and having a similar experience to my own. Now that she is 3, she’s at the age where she can do stuff with us and she has such an imagination. She brings her toys out and we can play for hours. So that’s my number one, whenever I’m off work, I just wanna go play with my daughter and get together as a family.
Otherwise, if my family is not around, I enjoy playing basketball and playing video games. I played high school basketball and was given the opportunity to go play professionally in Mexico. This came around the same time as I took the video game course so I felt excited about other opportunities around development and wasn’t as interested in basketball. The timing worked out well, I realized development is my true calling and if I hadn’t taken that class, I probably would’ve gone to play in Mexico.
Angel’s passion for creation and learning from others has truly inspired everyone at BigTime and we look forward to seeing what comes next.
Looking to join our team? Check out our open roles!
