Meet our Team: Nick Amoscato, Senior Software Engineer

Meet our Team: Nick Amoscato, Senior Software Engineer

Welcome to our new blog series, "Meet our Team." In each blog post, we'll be featuring a different member of the Fieldguide team. Get to know our team members, and find out what makes Fieldguide, well Fieldguide. 

Name: Nick Amoscato
Position: Senior Software Engineer
Location: Pittsburgh, PA

‍

Tell me about your role and team at Fieldguide.

I’m Nick Amoscato, a Senior Software Engineer at Fieldguide. At Fieldguide, the whole engineering team is full-stack, which means we work on front end, back end, data model changes, product definition, and more. Because the team is small, everyone is wearing all hats, and there’s a ton of responsibility and ownership that comes with any project you’re working on. On a given product feature, I’m responsible for the entire vertical slice of that feature, creating variety in my day-to-day workflow.

Our modern technology stack is pretty great to work with and no doubt contributes to our high efficiency. At the core, a React application interacts with a real-time GraphQL engine on Postgres. Code generation minimizes boilerplate, enabling us to focus almost entirely on building usable experiences for a complex auditing workflow. We have laid some groundwork for event-based background processing, but there is an enormous opportunity to automate tedious tasks and surface insightful metrics.

The team works in one-week sprint cycles, ships code to production at least five times a day, and has a continuous delivery mindset. We are talking to customers every week and getting direct, real-time feedback. These rapid sprint cycles allow us to change what we’re working on to adapt to customer feedback, and that makes it exhilarating. 

“These rapid sprint cycles allow us to change what we’re working on to adapt to customer feedback, and that makes it exhilarating.”

What’s your favorite aspect of working at Fieldguide?

The team. While we’re currently a small group, each person owns and executes their craft at an extremely high level – and always with the end user’s persona in mind.

Our engineers are in it for the long-term. Right now, we’re focused on building a solid foundation for not only the product, but also the technology and processes that will facilitate iteration speed as the team grows. There’s always a balance between writing maintainable software and shipping things fast. I think we do a good job of balancing those two things.

What led you to Fieldguide?

I worked with Chris Szymansky, Fieldguide’s CTO, at a previous software company (where he was also CTO). I joined when it was around 10-15 people, when it was a smaller startup. I am biased towards startups and enjoy the environment for the ability to have ownership and responsibility.

What excites you about the Fieldguide platform?

At Fieldguide, we are solving real people’s problems, making their lives less painful and stressful, and helping them be more efficient. It’s cool to see the end product helping our customers. I also like hearing positive and constructive feedback directly from customers. It shows they’re engaged with the product and willing to work with us to make it better.

Describe Fieldguide’s culture in three words.

1. Continuous and constant iteration 
2. Customer-focused
3. Collaborative
   

What has been your proudest moment at Fieldguide?

A really satisfying project yielded a "Linked Rows" feature, enabling users to synchronize the contents of multiple rows in an Excel-like spreadsheet. We essentially did this pretty complicated backward-compatible data model change to support this feature, months before introducing it. The outcome was that implementing that feature worked out super well, months after we did that initial refactor. It’s now a heavily used feature that wouldn't have been possible without the initial foundational changes we made. 

What does your remote workspace look like?

The most notable thing is that I stand all day, at a standing desk. I have two external monitors, and I am using a Starbucks cardboard box to elevate my laptop. It’s kind of a hack, but it’s the perfect height. I have some photos from a local Pittsburgh photographer that I like. And because it’s cold right now, I have a space heater nearby.

What do you like to do in your free time? 

I am into running, though it's hard in Pittsburgh in the winter because it’s cold. I enjoy listening to music, and I play saxophone and piano. I am also really interested in photography, using it as an excuse to explore cool places with my wife.

Want to make a huge impact at Fieldguide? We’re hiring.