Here at Attentive, we’re proud of the talented people who make this company a great place to work. We’re introducing a new feature—Attentive All Access—to highlight members of our team to share a glimpse of who we are and what it’s like to be part of Attentive.
For our first edition, I sat down with Cara Haas, a member of Attentive’s engineering team, to learn about her experiences in her role as well as her hobbies outside of the office. Originally from New York City, Cara graduated from Princeton University with a Bachelor of Science in Engineering (BSE) in Computer Science. She joined Attentive a little over a year ago, following her past experience at Google as a Software Engineer.
Tell me a little bit about yourself. Where are you from, what are some of your hobbies, and what’s a fact about yourself that would surprise most people?
I was born and raised in New York City. For college, I attended Princeton and majored in Computer Science. Something about me that would surprise many people is that growing up, I was a figure skater. I was even on my college’s synchronized figure skating team. Outside of Attentive, I love to craft. One of my favorite crafting hobbies is punch needle embroidery, which is often referred to as “painting with thread.” It’s a really unique combination of embroidery and rug hooking. I even used this hobby to create an Attentive “a” to display at our office.
What’s your role at Attentive? How would you describe a typical day?
I’m a Software Engineer. My typical day varies a lot depending on what I’m working on at the time. When I’m just starting out on a project, I spend my day working on the design and whiteboarding ideas with other members of our engineering team. Some days I’m more heads down developing our ever-expanding products, which consists of writing and testing code. Finally, when I’m working on launching a new feature, I spend my time monitoring the launch and making sure everything is running smoothly on our platform. Besides working on new projects and launches, I conduct engineering interviews, help debug and fix issues that arise, and review my colleagues’ code.
What’s the most rewarding part of your job?
I love hearing positive feedback from our customers, which are the focus of our business. Along those lines, it’s gratifying to be a part of the launch process where we are releasing a new feature that customers are really excited and happy about.
What does being “attentive” mean to you?
To me, being attentive means always focusing on the customer and their needs. To do that, you need to have a passion for delivering a good user experience and the ability to build a powerful product that customers will love and that will help them solve their daily challenges—like being able to effectively reach and communicate with their customers on a more personal basis.
Now for a fun one: if your parents or grandparents had to describe the type of work you do at Attentive, what do you think they would say?
I think my grandma would say I “work on computers.” My mom would say I “work with computers on promotional stuff for brands that you’ve probably heard of.”
Finally, what kind of advice do you have for others who are looking to grow a career in engineering?
I would encourage them to find an area they are passionate about and deep dive into it. It’s also important to surround yourself with like-minded people and always be eager to learn. I think my experiences in college, my role at Google, and everything I have worked on while at Attentive have all helped me hone in on what I’m most interested in and have allowed me to continue to grow and improve my skills and advance my career.
Looking to grow your own career? Check out Attentive’s openings
