PickTrace is proud to be a team of diverse backgrounds, skill sets, and interests. Each month we highlight members of our team to learn about what makes them, and PickTrace, unique.
Get to know our Front-end Software Engineer, Samuel Montes de Oca! Samuel is one of the longest-tenured members of the PickTrace team – joining PickTrace Mexico in 2016. In his time here, Samuel has truly helped built PickTrace as we know it today – both as a company and an app!
Write your autobiography as a tweet (140 characters or less):
A friend that you can always count on – always passionate about what I do.
Where did you grow up and what is your favorite memory of that place?
I’ve lived all my life in a little city located in the south of Jalisco. It is a really calm place to live, with wonderful weather and really nice places around all the area. All my childhood memories were developed in this town, one of them is riding a bike in the closest mountains, driving through ranches and dirt roads and having lunch under a big tree.
In school, what was your preferred subject and why?
When I was a kid was in the mids ’80s my oldest brother arrived home with a small box that was connected to a small screen and showed me a game where you had to add numbers before they crashed into each other. From that moment I knew that I would study anything related to computers. During all of my school periods my favourite class was computer science.
How do you like to spend your free time? Any hobbies of note?
It can sound geeky, but, coding and learning new stuff is kind of theraputic for me. Whenever I have some free time, I take out my computer and start typing some code. But what I really most love is spending time with my adorable kids and wife.
What’s something most people don’t know about you?
I’m a very quiet and calm person, I don’t talk too much, but that is what most people know. What they really don’t know is that when I was younger I used to be hyperactive. I used to practice sports like basketball and fronton and I used to party a lot with friends and be very active.
Before PickTrace, what was your most interesting or unusual job?
I have always been an independent person, so almost my entire career as a professional has been as a freelancer – working on small projects for web, mobile and backend applications, a bit here and there, always doing something new. I once tried to form a small dev company and there I met great people and very talented developers. It was something great, but fate did not allow it to prosper.
How would you describe your current role to a child?
I type thousands and thousands of lines of letters and numbers in my computer and like magic (and with some hocus-pocus and with the help of the wise CEO, Marvin the dog) they become the coolest and most amazing tool for the people who harvest fruit – allowing them to count how much fruit they’re going to sell.
What has been your proudest moment since joining the PT team?
The day when the new version of PickTrace web client was released.
What is your favorite part of working for PickTrace?
Having the opportunity to witness how the company has grown in such a short period of time. From being only 2 people on the dev team, and 3 more people managing the sales, support and product implementation, we have turned into a super team of specialized professionals in multiple areas, who are willing to help each other grow on a professional and personal level as well.
Finally, and most importantly, if you were a piece of produce what would you be and why?
I’ll say a pomegranate. It’s not meant for everyone, not very easy to eat, but it tastes really good using some lemon and salt or when the juice is mixed with sugar and mezcal.
Interested in working with awesome people like Samuel? Check out our open positions here!
