Edmunds Innovation & Technology Culture

What technical skills do you consider to be the most essential to your success as a full-stack developer?

Understanding how HTML, CSS, JavaScript, back-end systems and different persistence options work together to deliver an application is the foundation for any full-stack developer. But without a doubt, one of the most essential skills is the ability to read and trace through code. Traditionally, front-end developers do this in the browser and back-end developers do this in their tooling, but being a successful full-stack developer means your tracing doesn’t stop where your expertise ends. 

Different projects will use different technologies. You can always learn new languages, frameworks and technologies, but if you are not afraid of tracing through code to understand what is happening at each level, you will find success regardless of the technology.

What’s a soft skill that you also consider critical for your success? 

There’s an old proverb: “Curiosity killed the cat, but satisfaction brought it back.” My morbid curiosity has led me down many holes but the satisfaction gained when things click and I understand how something functions makes it worthwhile. This desire to understand how and why things work and can be improved has led to my professional growth.

Curiosity alone didn’t get me this far. Humility has been just as important. I am never the smartest person in a room, even when I’m by myself, so seeking feedback and mentorship from others to fill in knowledge gaps or bounce ideas around has contributed to my success. Sometimes a different perspective is all that is needed to change something from good to great.

Describe the product or feature you worked on. What does it do, and what was your role in creating it?

Given the sheer volume of data and the essential need for a seamless customer experience, we’ve initiated a project aimed at achieving a tenfold improvement in our operational performance. The core objective is to reduce the data updating time frame from months to days. 

This project will ensure the timely availability of up-to-date and standardized vehicle information, despite the varied nomenclature used by different manufacturers. 

In this project, my role is primarily that of a strategic leader, or what we call a technology and product sponsor. I am responsible for defining the project vision. This involves setting a clear direction for the project, outlining what we hope to achieve in the form of measurable success metrics, articulating how our efforts will contribute to Edmunds’ broader objectives and laying down software architecture and guidelines for the project. These guidelines help maintain consistency in our technological and operational approaches, ensure that we adhere to best practices and guide our team in making decisions that align with our project vision and objectives.

What was the most exciting or interesting aspect of working on this product or feature?

One of the most exhilarating aspects of working on this project was undoubtedly tackling the sheer magnitude of the desired improvement. The team experimented with open-source solutions, vendor integrations and innovative cloud-native machine-learning solutions. We were attempting to streamline the process of standardizing diverse data formats and terminologies across various vehicle features. As you can imagine, the myriad of terms used by different manufacturers could easily confuse any customer.

The team’s adoption of new technologies and willingness to embrace change and learn continuously was truly inspiring. This project was not just about achieving business impact or improving operational performance; it was also about growth, learning and pushing our boundaries, which made the experience truly enriching and exciting.

The incremental value added with technology experimentation has reduced the effort for some of the team’s most complex tasks from 220 hours to under 30 hours. We are entering the next exciting phase, and with the recent advancements in large language models, we can accurately categorize and standardize the terminology for several features.

How did your engineering team culture support the successful creation of this new product or feature? 

Our engineering team’s culture has been instrumental in the successful creation of this new product feature. Rooted in autonomy, learning from failures, rapid iteration, collaboration, ownership and continuous learning, our culture has shaped our approach to problem-solving and innovation.

The response to a challenge we faced during the first implementation phase highlighted our culture in action. We incorporated a vendor solution into our architecture but soon identified that it created a maintenance overhead that wouldn’t scale as needed for our project. The autonomy our team enjoys led to a proactive search for alternatives. The decoupled architecture of our system supported this exploration. A “battle-hardened” framework used by another department was identified as a promising replacement for the vendor solution. 

This example highlights the culture of reuse and cross-departmental collaboration that we nurture and emphasizes the power of a supportive and dynamic team culture. It’s not just about our technology or tools but about how we work together, take ownership, learn from failures and help each other grow. That’s the real driving force behind our success.