At Persona, we're incredibly proud of our amazing team. We think they're smart, funny, and kind, and we're sure you'll think the same. That's why we started this blog series to help you get to know the people behind Persona.
Today, meet Melissa, an engineering manager at Persona who writes code in her Sublime Text editor because she refuses to switch to VSCode for unknown reasons at this point (her words, not ours). She loves to build products that customers find useful.
Learn more about Mel in this quick Q&A:
What does your typical day look like at Persona?
I typically log on around 9:30 or 10:00am and start the day by checking Slack to see how people (especially our customers) are doing. Sometimes if I have a change I want to get in for the morning deploy, I'll wake up and start feverishly fixing the rspec tests that failed on my branch when I pushed it the day before. Then, I attend various meetings, think about Cases, write some code, read PRs, sneak in a boba trip, and think even more about Cases. My favorite part of the day, though, is when I get to sit down and code up what I thought about when I was thinking about Cases. I also enjoy fixing bugs or delivering on feature requests for customers (it really can make a lot of difference to them) and getting boba as a team.
Why did you choose Persona?
I chose Persona because I wanted a startup experience, and I trusted Persona leadership's team to remain People First even in the face of the many challenges a startup will encounter. I've stayed at Persona because I've found that the people here are very humble, giving, and team-oriented. It feels like we have a mission as a team, and we're taking everyone along for the ride.
Tell us one thing that people may not know about you.
Despite skiing quite often, I hate being cold. This means that I own many, many many jackets.
Who is someone you look up to or admire at Persona and why?
There are two people that come to mind: Christie Kim and Rick. Christie is unapologetically herself, and I admire her confidence, expertise, and fun personality. Rick has probably shaped me the most; I really admire how he's so careful and thoughtful in approaching the tough situations that arise from leading a company.
What are you most proud of accomplishing so far in your journey at Persona?
I'm most proud of learning how to take initiative to push for products and projects that I think are important and will deliver value to our customers. It's been really fulfilling to see my projects come to fruition and to see customers use the features I ship to help them with their day to day.
What is your favorite Persona Slack channel and why?
My favorite channel is probably #customers-questions-eng, where our customer success team asks questions or requests product or engineering help. This may sound like an odd choice, but it's just so soothing to me to see a process that is efficient and effective. I really like that we have so many questions and answers in one place so everyone can always find them.
What do you think people should know about Persona?
We love to drink boba here! And if you don't like boba, we love to teach people to love boba! Or at least, I do... this might not be a company-wide stance, though.
Stay tuned as we continue featuring more Personerds in this ongoing series!
