April 7, 2021
Employee Spotlight: Matt Zanderigo
When you join the AtScale team, you join a team of talented individuals who are committed to sharing our mission of creating a data-driven culture. Today we are pleased to introduce you to Darrel Hamlet, who helps turn the AtScale vision into a reality.
What is your role at AtScale?
A: My current role is head of our Program Management Office, which was a new role created when I joined AtScale. The primary responsibilities are to deliver strategic / important programs and lay tracks for future programs to follow. Secondarily, the track-laying analogy also applies to process development work that I do in other areas of the business, contributing to the maturation of our quality management system.
How long have you been at the company for?
A: Just over one year.
What does a typical “day in the life” look like for you?
A: My work day starts early. I like to get up before the sun rises, which is a habit I developed back in college. It allows time to ease into the day, enjoy a light breakfast with some black coffee…then get down to work. I usually begin by quickly scanning email, slack, and Teams for anything urgent that needs my attention. Then I review my calendar (day, week, month) to ensure I’m aligned with a timeline context of the various programs on-going. This helps set priorities. Since most of my focus is on product creation and lifecycle management, with a large percentage of our product and engineering teammates in Sofia Bulgaria, I like to have meetings early-mid morning due to the time difference (I work remote from a home office in Durham, NC). When I’m not in program meetings (which has me taking meeting notes/actions, tracking progress, and mitigating risks), the rest of my day is typically spent working on process development / improvement…with a little ‘ankle biting’ thrown in for good measure.
Can you speak to the work you have been doing with our technology partner, Intersystems?
A: Last October, AtScale and InterSystems announced a strategic collaboration that will result in ‘AtScale inside’ for InterSystems IRIS customers. The solution provides business users with superior ease of use and self-service analytics capabilities to visualize, analyze, and interrogate live data in InterSystems IRIS data platform and get the information they need in order to make timely and accurate business decisions. This is a large, complex and cross-functional program that I’ll be managing throughout the coming year, as an example of the strategic nature of the work I do.
What’s the most challenging part of your job?
A: I love my job, and all the expected challenges that come with a dynamic, innovative, fast-growing young company with a distributed workforce spread across many time zones. Rather than describing any of those challenges, let me share a fun story. For most of my life, in personal as well as professional circles, my nickname has been “D”. AtScale is a friendly place to work, and nicknames are used extensively as a way of leveling organizational hierarchies and fostering open communication. I soon realized, upon joining and sending my first email which I signed “D”, that there already was a “D” at AtScale! In order to avoid future confusion, I was given the nickname “Shakespeare”. While we no longer have multiple “Ds”, and the confusion has been cleared up, I find it challenging to write 14-line emails in iambic pentameter…plus not signing with “D”.
The most rewarding?
A: I find that the biggest challenges are also the most rewarding parts of my job. One aspect of the quality management system work that I find very rewarding is when a co-worker has that ‘aha!’ moment and realizes that becoming a process-centered enterprise not only speeds things up but results in higher quality outcomes!
Describe AtScale in three words.
A: Fasten your seatbelt.
When you’re not working, where are people most likely to find you?
A: For much of the year, I like to be outside walking, exploring the beautiful state of North Carolina; you might find me hiking along the Eno River, or strolling through the Sarah Duke Gardens, or enjoying the Outer Banks beaches. When at home, you will find me engaged in yard work or doing some sort of home improvement project.
Thank you, Darrel! Interested in meeting the rest of our team? Check out our past interviews:
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