Get to Know a Chameleon

Welcome to this month's rendition of ‘Get to Know a Chameleon’ featuring one of our Software Engineer Architects, and one of the first to become a Chameleon, Jay VanRiper. We recently sat down with Jay and asked him some questions about his time at CCG, what he enjoys most about being a Chameleon and of course, what makes Jay, Jay. Read on to see how Jay is standing out by blending in!?

Gordon: Hey Jay, how’s it going? I am excited to talk to you, get to know you a bit. We thought this was a better way to get to know our Chameleons, to actually have a conversation and just see how it goes. We have some questions about CCG the company but then some personal ‘get to know you’ kind of questions and see where those take us.

Jay: Hey Gordon, how are you doing? Yea, sounds good!

Gordon: So easy way to start, how long have you been at CCG and what is your role at the company??

Jay: Yea, so I am actually coming up on almost 4 years now, I think in May here, so getting close to 4 years. My role is a team lead right now and also a people manager. Some of my role is engineering development work, of course, and some of it involves design decisions at the project level at this point.

Gordon: So do you work with a lot of projects at CCG or are you kind of on one team??

Jay: So right now, I am primarily on one team. I have worked on a few different teams since I started, and in some cases, I try to help out with other projects, like some DevOps development that other teams are doing. It’s contained, but not always restricted to just the one project. Some of the projects I’ve worked on are used, or have been used, in other related projects, so I occasionally try to jump on and work a bit with people on those projects.?

Gordon: So four years, that makes you, I am pretty sure one of the first like three people at the company. How did you hear about CCG at the company’s young age?? How did they get you to come on board? What made you want to join CCG, at such an early, small time in its history????

Jay: I had worked at a company that both our CEO, Tim, and our VP of Engineering, Antoine, had worked at. The two of them were the first two people who were officially onboard at CCG. Since I had worked with them both before, I had been in contact with them—and I am good friends with Antoine, so I trust him a lot, and I trust Tim as well.

In the end, they were starting something new and I wanted to be a part of it.

They had already laid the groundwork for CCG, so I just had to come in and start working. They already had a project lined up and everything. It was the right time for me because I was overworked at the prior employer, and it didn’t seem like there was an end in sight. There’s still, obviously, a good amount of work here, but it was clear to me when I started that CCG didn’t want people to be constantly overworked. They were aware of how that affects somebody.

Gordon:? Being so early on in the company and now you have seen it grow over the years, how does that kind of make you feel? Do you feel, I don’t want to say responsible, but as someone who helped grow the company and in that culture you were talking about, can you kind of talk to that a bit??

Jay: Yea, so I definitely don’t feel responsible for it. I think it’s a lot of how the executive team conveys the culture. It all starts from them in my opinion, and they established the culture early on. They encourage people to continue it, and that’s how it just propagates. As we hire new people, we are hiring people who have a similar outlook and mentality. Everybody is continuing in that same direction, with that same collaborative and supportive culture, and I think that is what makes CCG’s culture what it is. In the end, it’s not just the executives’ behavior, it’s everybody as a whole. We all make it what it is.????

Gordon: Yeah, definitely.? So of course you mentioned not being overworked, unless it was self inflicted here. So I guess, you have kind of answered this question already, but, would you say the work life balance at CCG is pretty acceptable or do you self inflict a lot of overworking on yourself ??????????

Jay: No, no I don’t. You put in your regular hours, and outside of that, you are free to put in additional hours that you need to or want to.? There are crunch times where it’s beneficial for people to invest more time, and that’s understandable, but you can’t be constantly overworking until you’re burned out. You can’t produce good work at that point… and you also miss out on other things in life. So I think it’s a great balance and great policy.?

Gordon: I definitely agree. So as far as for yourself, would you prefer, I mean are you more a morning or night kind of person when it comes to work or life just in general??????

Jay: So that one is difficult because it is kind of random for me. Generally, I will stay up later at night, but the thing is, I don’t stay asleep in the morning - not because I’m a morning person though. I always wake up at the same time regardless. I don’t set an alarm or anything - I just wake up, and that can be a bad thing. I don’t get enough sleep when I stay up late at night so I try to balance that by going to bed at a reasonable hour. I guess that is not a real answer to your question, but I guess if I had to choose I would choose a night owl because I’d prefer to stay up later and wake up later if I could.

Gordon: Now when you are up all night, is that because you are working or do you have other hobbies that you kind of give that time to?? What do you do in your time outside of CCG??

Jay: A lot of it is just unwinding. Sometimes I will work but it's not that often unless there is something necessary that I have to get done. But generally, I like to relax a little bit and just watch TV shows and movies and stuff…and play video games.??

Gordon: I have a lot of personal questions,[laugh] but I don’t think I should be asking and wasting our interview time.? What is your favorite TV show or movie?

Jay: Unfortunately I don’t have a particular favorite -? I can’t pinpoint exactly one, but I do have a list of favorites.

Gordon: So hit me with the tops then

Jay: Okay so, I really did like Mr. Robot. I liked Breaking Bad and Better Call Saul. We’re actually watching The Wire again right now, which was an amazing show. And Boardwalk Empire, I thought was good.? Hmm, so those are the types of shows that I like.?

Gordon: So you like more of the dramas??????

Jay: Yeah, and I guess one of them that people may not know so well, it’s Halt and Catch Fire. I thought that one was awesome. And that was a drama as well.?

Gordon: Yeah, I have never heard of that?

Jay: Yeah, it’s an AMC show. It’s pretty good. I highly recommend it!

Gordon: Yeah, okay I will check it out. That’s pretty cool. So I just want to keep asking you about video games but I won’t do that to us. [laugh]

Jay: No?! [laugh] Sometimes I’ll do development outside of work projects as well, just to play around and just to learn things.

Gordon: Nice, Nice. So let’s bring it back a little bit to CCG, you have been here four years, that's been a long time. Do you have a top, or a couple top memories, moments, events, things that you look back fondly on?? Is it the Chicago Handshake from last year? [laugh]

[Note: The Chicago Handshake is a shot of Mal?rt’s and an Old Style tallboy]

Jay: That was a good time actually - the Chicago trip. [laugh]? It is always good to see team members that I don’t normally get to see in the office because we are distributed and all. Some of the people that were in Chicago are people that I have worked with in the past at another company. I don’t get to see them in person very often, so that’s definitely a highlight. I know I missed the picnic last year, but the picnic the previous year was really fun. All the families get together and there are a bunch of kids with a lot of energy running around and everything. We got some squirt guns. I handed out squirt guns for all the kids and that was a really good time.[laugh]? So yea, definitely a lot of the events that we have as a group to bring people together in person - those are really cool to me because we have such a great group of people and it’s always good to socialize, as well as work. All around, those are normally pretty fun.???????????

Gordon: So have you always been kind of interested in dev? How did you get into this field? Were you originally software development?

Jay:? I guess the first time I really started doing software development was in college. When I was very little, I took a class in Logo, if you know what that is. In Logo, you have this turtle on the screen and you control it to draw things on the screen - tell it to go forward so many spaces and then turn 90 degrees to the right. Anyway, that was a programming class, but it was a summer school class really early on.? Until college, I didn’t really have any other programming exposure, but I was really interested in math and logic puzzles. Over a holiday, I was with family - my cousins, my brother, parents, aunts and uncles. We were all just sitting there trying to determine what I should major in and one of my cousins said “Ah, you like solving puzzles and stuff like that”. He mentioned computer science, and that was related to math. So I ended up majoring in Math and Computer Science and from there I really loved the computer science portion. I graduated and started work in software development.

Gordon: Nice, nice. So I guess you credit your cousin with computer science. Would you say that was a good piece of advice? Have you gotten any other good advice over the years that you kind of try to live or walk out ???????

Jay: Oh boy, so that was definitely a good piece of advice - or a good recommendation. It was something I really didn’t have in mind at the time and obviously, it led to everything that happened from that point on, and me being here. As for other advice, I don’t have any at the forefront of my head, I guess… I’m trying to think.????

Gordon: That’s okay, I mean we can come back to it.

Jay: Yeah, I guess I don’t have anything specific - just a lot of the experiences growing up. My parents and brother - I relied on them to instill values in me. I don’t have anything specific in terms of ‘one piece of advice’. Just a collection of everything, like how I was treated and how they explained things to me regarding how life works.????

Gordon: Yeah, cool. So you talked a little bit about some of your hobbies and stuff, so if you didn’t have to work, what would be the thing that you would do with your life? If you just had infinite freetime and money.

Jay: So I think I would have some development projects that I would work on because I do think it is fun and challenging. But other than that - not that I can’t do this now I guess - but I would probably get a dog. Maybe I would see what the dating scene is like. [laugh] Maybe I wouldn’t do that, I don’t know.? Not that I can’t do it now, it’s just that I think I am set in my ways at this point. [laugh]

Gordon: So what kind of dog? Do you have any ideas?

Jay: So I have an idea, I don’t know for sure if it will work out or not, but the type of dog that I like is a Rhodesian Ridgeback. It is a good-sized dog???

Gordon: So would you want to go hunting with that dog or teach it how to track? So possibly new hobby if you ever don’t have to work. [laugh]

Jay: Could be [laugh]. Driven by the dog to hunt, yes. [laugh]

Gordon: That's funny. [laugh] So how did you land on that dog? Did you have one when you were younger, or know somebody who had one??

Jay: I did have a family dog for a while and it was a small dog and I kind of wanted to have a bigger dog I guess. Not that I didn’t love my dog, because I did. I love animals. I just don’t have any pets at this point, so anytime I see someone else’s pet I just want to play with it.??

Gordon: Speaking of animals and bringing it back a little to CCG. We really love our animals here, specifically the chameleon. You are obviously already a Chameleon, but if you could be any animal, what would you want to be and why??

Jay:? So I’m kind of intrigued by primates. There’s a primate that I think is cool, and it swings around in trees which looks really fun. I’ve seen them at the zoo a bunch of times. It is pretty slim and it’s got longer arms. It’s a Gibbon. [laugh]

Gordon: A Gibbon? Oh yea yea, okay.? Cool!

Jay: I guess that is what I would be [laugh], just because it looks fun swinging through the trees.

Gordon: Nice! So going back four years again, but between then and now, have you ever had a specific moment while at CCG that kind of told you, “This is why I am here. I am glad I have CCG and I am glad I found this company.”?????????

Jay: There are many moments like that, and there are consistently those moments—especially dealing with the people here. It’s refreshing to have all the support that is given by the rest of the team members - and not just the team that I am on, but even external teams. I come into the office all the time just because I love it so much.?

I guess one time in particular relates to the topic of getting overworked. Everything was fine on my end, but I was putting in more hours on a project, and it was recognized by multiple people in the office and by managers above me looking at time cards and everything. Multiple people came to me and were like “Do you need help? We recognize you are putting in a bunch of hours. How can we help?”. And I was fine, so there was nothing to worry about. I knew it was a temporary push to be able to hit a deadline, but the fact that there was that much concern from people - and they’re proactive about it, not reactive, waiting for complaints. So I feel like that’s very refreshing because that didn’t happen at other companies. Even the opposite had happened where I was like, “hey I’m feeling overworked, I need help with these things,” and they said, “yes, we’re getting you help,” but then it didn’t happen. Everyone is proactive about making sure team members are okay - asking the right questions, and then doing something to fix it. I definitely expect that if I said, “yeah, I need help”, help would have been provided. So that is something that means a lot to me, and it’s appreciated.

Gordon: Yeah, sounds like to me, and you kind of mentioned it in your answer, that you work hard and like to do good work. Is there anything specific that you can point to that drives that discipline, motivation, whatever word you would say to be that kind of dedicated, committed?

Jay: Yes, for me personally, I think some of it is the mission and the projects that we work on and the importance of them, but a lot of it is also to support the team - not wanting to let the rest of the team down and helping us to succeed as a group. I think it all kind of goes back to the people at CCG; the people are really good to me, and I want to do my part as well and contribute to make us all successful. I think it is kind of self-propagating.???

Gordon: We have our Vision, Mission, Values and you’ve been talking a lot about the people, would you say that is the one that speaks to you the most? Humans over hardware. Or is there a different one?

Jay: Absolutely! I feel like that is a big differentiator. The people here are what makes CCG what it is and that is how we continue to evolve. There are going to be problems, but how we react and respond to those issues is determined by the people here. I feel like the people are what stands out to me.??

Gordon: Yeah, nice! On the flip side, we talked about work-life balance, and the nice thing about working so hard is maybe being able to take some time off. So when you think of vacations, time off, what would be an ideal vacation to you? Where would you go, what would you do? Would you just go live with the monkeys in the jungle? [laugh]

Jay: [laugh] So some of what I have been doing recently for vacation is going to meet up with family. I don’t have any family in the immediate area, so for vacation, I generally go somewhere to meet with family - and it isn’t always visiting where they live. I meet up with them in different destinations. I do like some of the Southern California area just because the weather there is normally so nice and the scenery and everything…so that's probably where I would generally choose to go. I like to just hang out outside at the beach or at the pool, just relaxing like that on vacation is what I like to do - maybe some outdoorsy stuff, that'd be cool, like hiking.

Gordon: Now you mentioned you are living in the Virginia area, I am assuming as you are in the office, I doubt you commute from very far away. So is that by choice? We are a remote company so you can kind of go, you could move anywhere in the world. Do you want to be living in Virginia? Is it just a hold over as you mentioned coming from the other companies or is there another ideal place you see yourself living?

Jay: I was originally from Chicago, and I moved here from Chicago. It has worked out for when I have to be here for certain events. I don’t necessarily see myself living here for forever. I would like to consider Southern California because I can avoid the colder seasons.?

Gordon: They are like, getting a few feet of snow right now, aren’t they?! [laugh]

Jay: Oh, is that right? In Southern California? [laugh]???

Gordon: I don’t know if it has gone that far south, but… [laugh]

Jay: I just always had it in my head that it’s always perfect weather, but maybe it’s not. [laugh]

Gordon:? No, I think they are having a weird, weird winter on the west coast this year but no, normally I guess not. So I am from Hawaii myself, don’t know if we ever talked, so I definitely sympathize with wanting to go back to a more tropical pleasant climate.

Jay: Hawaii would be cool in my opinion, however it's far away from everywhere else and traveling anywhere besides the other islands, it seems like a big task.

Gordon: That’s true. It is for sure. We got a couple more fun questions. So if you could meet anybody, past, present or future, who would it be and why??

Jay: Future people? [laugh] How do I know who this future person will be or is it just a random future person? Actually that doesn’t sound like a bad thing to talk to a future person. I think that would be kind of cool, I don’t have any particular person in mind unfortunately. I feel like I could get some lottery numbers haha. Just to see what it was like in the future, that would be cool.

Gordon: Yeah definitely. So that is the question, if you could go anywhere, would you rather go forward then backwards??

Jay: I would absolutely go forwards. I am curious to know what’s there.

Gordon: You want to see how soon the world ends?? Like 5 years, 10 years. [laugh]

Jay: See how soon the world ends?! [laugh] End up in a post-apocalyptic world?! I‘d like to see where technology goes at that point actually. I would definitely go to the future, I think that would be my choice.

Gordon: Yeah hopefully you don’t find terminators. [laugh]

Jay: As long as I could come back. [laugh] If I could hit a button and jump back, then I would go to the future.??

Gordon: I guess I was just kind of joking about that, right. Would you even be able to live with yourself if you jumped forward 10 years and found out your progress. Do you feel like you're a superstitious person in any way? Do those kinds of things bother you? Do you think about any of that kind of stuff, or not really?

Jay: Generally I am not, and this is probably going to make me sound bad, but I am generally not superstitious because I kind of depend on logic and science as much as possible and so I think I am driven by that. I guess in terms of superstitions, I think I would need a significant reason to be superstitious about something.

Gordon: Sure, yeah that makes sense. Kind of wrapping up, let’s bring it home to CCG.? What would you say is the most interesting part of your job at CCG????

Jay: I could say ‘people’ again but I won't. I would actually say the work and the kind of projects that we do. I think the interesting part to me is learning new things every day and pushing the envelope in terms of some of the technology and understanding of it and using it in unique ways. That is something that drives me and makes me want to come in everyday—to learn as much as I can and be doing new things. It’s not always the same thing, repetitive, like “Oh, I have done this in the past so I am just going to apply it as is for this new project”. Generally, that’s not what happens. You still use what you’ve learned in the past on new projects. However, there are always additional technologies or approaches that require learning something different. I think that makes things interesting.

Gordon: Definitely! Right, so obviously there are other companies in our field. As cool as the stuff we are doing is, other companies, I assume, are doing at least relatively, similarly cool stuff. So if I had to ask you one thing, like what is the one thing if I was a friend of yours, not from CCG, what is the one reason you would join CCG over other companies, either in the same space as us or just other software companies. What about CCG? What is the one reason you would give that sets it apart from other companies?

Jay: It kind of comes back to the people, but I think it is the culture that is cultivated by the people. Just the support that is given all around by all the team members, and I think this just came up recently in a meeting that we had amongst managers.

It essentially is the vision, mission, values and we kind of go through them at every All Hands, but I feel like all of them hold true here. Not only do we want to do these things, the fact is that we do, do them.

We follow through on all of that and we do that as a group. I think that is what causes the culture to be what it is and definitely differentiates us from other companies. So I have had other companies like I had mentioned before where some people would come with a concern and nothing happens about it. But I think we—and it comes all the way down from Tim and Byron and everybody at the top of the company—that they take everyone's suggestions and recommendations and concerns seriously, and they actually take action to make those improvements. I think that same outlook kind of propagates to everyone else too.? I think everyone else tries to do that same thing, and I think that makes us quite different from companies I have worked for in the past.?

Gordon: Yeah, definitely.? Well that is all the questions I had, thank you so much for taking the time. Is there anything else that you were hoping to talk about, anything you maybe want to tell us about yourself that you feel like we didn’t cover here? Any fun facts or anything like that you feel your adoring fans on LinkedIn need to know? [laugh]

Jay: [laugh] No this is good, thank you, I appreciate it. I don’t think I have anything in particular. But I think this is a good format. The way you guys do this, it felt comfortable. I do dread these things a little bit just cause I don’t usually come up with good responses on the spot, but you made it easy.

Gordon: Thank you. I have one more question, I am sorry Jay. Again we are Chameleons, I think this has to be a question.? If you could change into any color, what color would it be??

Jay: Change into any color? Hmm. I have to choose one, but I am a Chameleon, right, can’t I blend in to everything? [laugh]

Gordon: Yea but that is no fun. You are cheating. [laugh]

Jay: But that is fun, that would be awesome, you wouldn’t be able to see me right now! [laugh]

Gordon: You're cheating the question. Respect the process. [laugh]

Jay: Okay, alright so, let’s see, I am a big fan of darker blues. So probably a dark navy blue or something like that.

Gordon: [laugh] Yeah, there you go. Thanks again Jay!? ?