Name: Isaiah Moran

Role: Senior Software Engineer

Time at Vend: 6 months

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Welcome to On the Spot, our content series where we feature people in the parking, technology, and commercial real estate industries you should know. This week our Senior Software Engineer Isaiah Moran spoke to us about his work experience before joining Vend, highlighted our company culture and some fun facts about him. 

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Good morning Isaiah, it’s really nice to finally have you speaking with us. To kick-off the interview, let’s start with our typical introductory questions:

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Q: What brought you to Vend?

A: I was at the point in my career where I wanted to push myself and experience being part of the early team building something really innovative and new. Vend Park had established product market fit and an amazing product foundation for me to continue to build on. The choice was obvious.

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Q: That’s really nice to know! And what were you doing before you joined Vend?

A: I was working as a software engineer at a Crypto startup. 

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Q: What is your favorite part of working at Vend?

A: The culture honestly. It’s a group of people that are super passionate about what they do and push each other to be even better. Everyone is very friendly, cares about one another, and brings their A game daily so it’s really inspiring.

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Q: What do you like most about the work we do here?

A: It drastically improves a part of my life that thus far has not been great, parking.

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Q: What are you most proud of in your career so far?

A: My time spent at one of my previous startups. I grew a lot as an engineer and a manager while there, taking part in several large scale projects that really forced me to grow and learn at high speed. I don’t think I'd be where I am today without the work I put in or the mentors I had there.  

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Q: How would you describe our company culture?

A: Epic. It’s the best mix of friendly, serious, driven, and fun.

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Q: What do you think makes our team culture unique?

A: How open everyone is. There’s nobody here that’s not “genuine” which makes every conversation honest and you know it. It’s very refreshing.

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Now, shifting the tone of the conversation a little bit, let’s talk about some fun facts about you!

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Q: What's one thing people don't know about you that they would be surprised to find out?

A: I’m 32 and I have 3 great nieces and nephews (not as in “awesome”, but as in my nieces have kids of their own).

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Q: What is the most interesting project you've worked on here?

A: Definitely license plate recognition, it’s pretty cool to see how the system can read and recognize plates which creates a seamless experience for the driver and a set of actions in the back end of our system.

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Q: What piece of advice would you give to your younger self?

A: Buy lots of toilet paper. There will be a shortage when you turn 30.

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Q: If you could have any superpower, what would it be?

A: I’d fly. I’m all about getting to where I want to go as fast as possible and flight would make it so much faster.

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Q: How did you get started in the industry?

A: I’ve always been interested in computers. From a young age I watched my dad build software for work and tinker with hardware so I’ve always been around technology.

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Q: What are your goals for the next few months/years?

A: To build the best cloud based parking garage management solution on the market.

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Q: What is one thing that you wish people knew about your job?

A: That they can do it too! A lot of people look at software and think they can’t do it. That they need to be exceptional at math or be extremely technically savvy. Software engineering is like any other skill. It takes practice but at its core it’s all reading and writing critically which is something we do for every grade all the way through to college.

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Q: What’s the last song you listened to?

A: Voices In My Head by Falling In Reverse

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Q: What, if anything, are you currently binge-watching? Or reading?

A: Currently I'm binge watching the Witcher to get all caught back up so I can start the latest season.

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Q: What’s one thing on your bucket list?

A: To own a savannah cat (a house cat mixed with a serval)

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Q: What didn’t we ask that you think would be interesting to share?

A: What’s my favorite color. It’s pink.

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