Andy Burke - Fintech CTO

Junior to Senior with David Guttman

Talking Points:

• What is FinTech?
• How did Andy get into FinTech?
• Possible changes in FinTech.
• Andy’s experiences in the game industry.
• Andy's deep-rooted issues in the game industry.
• The value of side projects as a Junior Dev.
• Andy's interview experiences at the places he has worked.
• Tips for Junior Devs' mindset in the interview phase.
• Andy’s favorite aspects of an interviewing Junior Dev.
• What would Andy do if he was just starting out as a Junior Dev?
• Life at Startups vs. Big Companies.

Quotable Quotes:

• “If you are a junior dev and you are looking to go into FinTech, just consider that a lot of times when people tell you that ‘This works a certain way’ there’s usually a [ significant ] reason why.” - AB
• “The pace of the game development world is extremely high [ … ] the biggest understanding that you can get out of it is to really be able to listen to the problem that needs to be solved and identify the core issues that need to be resolved.” - AB
• “I would wait until there is Unionization [ in the gaming industry ]” - AB
• “[The gaming industry] can be extremely good experience to gather, but it can be extremely challenging and it depends on who you are, what you are willing to deal with, and if you are looking to do it for the long term.” - AB
• “One of the most important things to do if you are a junior is to just program.” - AB
• “A game can be a great side project for something to motivate you if you are a junior to work on those lines of code.” - AB
• “There’s two ways of making money, you can help someone save time, or you can help them waste time.” - DG
• “The iteration loop of game development is the core problem of AAA game titles.” - AB
• “You should endeavor to have an understanding of the whole tech stack. Not just JavaScript and Postgres, but ALL the way down.” - AB
• “The better your understanding of the entirety of the system, the better you will make it perform, and the better you will be able to find out what has gone wrong.” - AB
• “One of the things that help me [ with interview nerves ] is to remember that not only are you interviewing for them, they are interviewing for you.” - AB
• “When you’re hiring, one of the things that I try to do [ … ] I want candidates to be comfortable. Because that is when you find out who they really are.” - AB
• “The real value [ of an interview ] is if both sides are honest about what they are bringing to the table.” - AB
• “Don’t undervalue what you have done. There’s nothing more attractive as a hiring manager than when someone comes in and is excited talking about what they’ve done.” - AB
• “By the time you get to the company you think is your first choice, it is a good thing to have other companies to compare it to.” - DG

Notes:

Andy's GitHub
github.com/andyburke

Andy's Twitter
twitter.com/andybrk

Junior-to-Senior Community
community.juniortosenior.io