28 blog posts tagged "Opinion"

Irina O'Hara is one of our uniquely clever, expert frontend developers. She’s immensely talented and has had a vital impact on our website redesign. When it came time to spotlight her, Irina was a joy to sit down with and get to know a little better. To get to the basics, she writes code and creates awesome websites, and she’s darn good at both. BackgroundIrina was born and raised in St. Petersburg, Russia. However, she wasn't born a development expert and had other aspirations from the start.

Acacia Warner is easily one of the most multifaceted, well-rounded, and uniquely talented people we have here at Smarty. She is an expert ice skater, violinist, and avid gamer. The most important people in her world are her family members, and she loves that her work at Smarty allows her to go home and actually be home. So what does she do for Smarty? She writes and maintains code for our products, specifically our international suite of products. BackgroundAcacia grew up knowing that she was destined for greatness.

Lacey said it best herself: "I keep our clients happy. "One of our star Customer Success Managers, Lacey, brings her bubbly and friendly smile to work daily, ready to brighten the smile of every person she comes in contact with. So, it was a pleasure for me to sit down with her, get to know her a little better, and find out more about how she impacts those around her. BackgroundLacey didn't always want to be a customer success rep. But she DID always want to make people happy. When we asked her what she wanted to be when she grew up, she said:"A pop star.

We’ve said it once, and we’ll say it a zillion more times—nobody puts the “care” in Caroline as Ms. Roweton does! Often referred to as the chill vibes chick around the office, Caroline has a calming presence (unless she’s pulling some seriously rad pranks like stealing Randy Buttons in the dark of night and holding him hostage for days). As an Associate Product Manager, Caroline is responsible for researching and defining Smarty’s international products. She also performs competitive research, communicates with customers, gathers and prioritizes feature requests from them, supports sales through custom deals and pricing, and is pretty much just a superhero.

At Smarty®, our company does two main things to maintain a culture of wizardry, fun, and outwardness. First, we have our staff meetings, and second, we have company spotlights. Both events are in-person, where everyone comes together in school-assembly-style seating. We have a small stage with sound and lighting systems to enhance our gatherings. In our staff meetings, we learn about employees, organizational changes, and upcoming events. Our spotlights have become an easy and entertaining way to get to know people from all departments, learn how they contribute to our organization, and learn what makes them unique.

Alright, gather 'round, fellow wizards and witches! It's time to unveil the secrets to mastering the mystical art of professional development at Smarty. Yes, “wizardry” typically refers to wearing cloaks, wielding wands, riding broomsticks, and mixing potions. At Smarty, we think of “wizardry” as being the best at doing what we do. We’re going above and beyond to not only become experts in our field but also stay that way through shifts in technology and culture. However, being the best shouldn’t be an afterthought; at Smarty, it’s not.

Navigating the depths of corporate cultureIn today's business world, many companies create a surface-level culture within their company structures but stop there, never seeming to invest fully in deepening a healthy culture. Surface-level culture can be visually appealing and immediately gratifying. Imagine, for example, a delicious cake. It’s beautifully decorated but tastes off or is missing an ingredient that spoils the final product. An intentional and deep culture is hard work. It takes time, action, correction, and honest feedback from everyone in the company.

Richard Oliver’s presence at Smarty improves the beauty of our grounds and the spirits of everyone he meets. His life, marked by a series of unique and enriching experiences, shapes his profound impact on our culture. Richard holding his younger brotherRichard was immersed in environments that fostered his curiosity and resilience from a young age. He grew up near the site of the Port Chicago explosion during World War II. When he was at a neighbor's house, he heard the explosion and saw the smoke, and the shockwave blew out the windows of his home 30 miles away!His childhood one-bedroom home also served as a backdrop in the Academy Award-winning film "All the Kings Men.

Throughout my many years of leading tech companies, I’ve immersed myself in the varying shifts in technology’s job market. However, the 2024 tech hiring market presents significant challenges for both companies and candidates, stemming from the rapid evolution of the industry, a shortage of skilled talent, workforce preferences for remote work options, increased competition, and a growing emphasis on cultural fit and soft skills. To navigate these challenges successfully, finding strategic approaches for employers is crucial.

At Smarty, John Hickey is one of the go-to guys for communicating the intricacies found within the world of address data. With an impressive background that spans from marketing director to SEO and digital marketing manager, John has a real knack for breaking down the particularities of our products into something everyone can grasp. As busy as John gets here at Smarty, he still finds time for self-improvement, applying principles that help at work and in his personal life. Around the office, he's known for his hard work, out-of-this-world bagels, and a quick sense of humor that makes even the most mundane tasks a bit more fun.

We believe wholeheartedly that all work and no play is a dull way to spend our days. While many companies laser focus on productivity and output, we recognize that regularly infusing enjoyment and community into the workplace is essential for an engaged, thriving team. Smarty's culture strikes a balance between innovation and fun, demonstrating that being serious about work doesn’t preclude being serious about play. This blog provides an insider's perspective into how our organization cultivates an energizing, recreational spirit across the company and why fun is a vital ingredient in our secret recipe for success.

Today, we spotlight Trey Rutter, our Dev/Ops IT Associate. Trey is the wizard behind the scenes, helping to ensure that our hardware and address data solutions work seamlessly to deliver accurate and reliable information. Let's get to know Trey better. What is the most surprising thing you learned about addresses after joining Smarty?I found it surprising how a ZIP Code can tell us so much. It's more than just 5 digits at the end of your address. When you were in elementary school, what did you want to be when you grew up?As a kid, I had dreams of being an archeologist.

In the fast-paced world of software development, it's easy to get lost in boring meetings, pointless tasks, and approaching deadlines. But here at Smarty, we avoid the monotony with a blend of innovation, community, and a heaping side of fun. In this blog, we'll explore the things we do to make Smarty more than a workplace and something truly unique. Lunchtime movie script readingImagine you're in the middle of a busy workday, and you hear dialogues from "The Sandlot" or "Super Mario Bros" echoing into the kitchen.

Halloween is just around the corner, and since we eat and drink addresses every day at Smarty™, we get into the spooky spirit by exploring the eerie and mysterious street names across the United States?In the movie "Beetlejuice," saying the titular character's name 3 times would summon the chaotic and mischievous demon himself. At Smarty, we have a theory. Like Beetlejuice, every haunting creature has a magic number, and whenever someone sends mail to a house on Vampire Road in Gallitzin, Pennsylvania, delivers pizza to Goblin Drive in Harrison, Arkansas, or navigates to Zombie Way in Moncks Corner, South Carolina, it brings each state closer to their own monster apocalypse.

Interpersonal skills and how they tie to leadership, teamwork, and business growth is no cakewalk. Yet every business knows that retention of employees is largely contingent upon quality interpersonal skills. That's why so many organizations implement principles and techniques taught by the greats. I'm sure you've heard of Dale Carnegie's "How to Win Friends & Influence People", Steven R. Covey's "The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People", or maybe even "Dare to Lead" by Dr. Brene Brown.

It's often said you need two skills to find love: sales and marketing. You need marketing skills to present yourself well and gain the attention of the person you want. Then, you need sales skills to lie like you're the devil himself. But what if you aren't conventionally attractive and (like the sales team at Smarty) aren't willing to lie? To compensate, you'll need to dial up your marketing; we're talkin' data automation, streamlined & integrated data systems, time-saving and cost management, eliminating human error, and workflows like crazy.

In the realm of corporate meetings that should've been an email, Smarty's staff meetings are different from what most would expect. Employees at Smarty frequently name our weekly company-wide meeting as a highlight of their week. Like many companies, our staff meetings consist of company announcements, and updates you'd expect from any SaaS company. What makes our meetings unique is the lively, interactive, fun atmosphere where laughter is the most common sound and hurting cheeks are the most common symptom.

Last week, we participated in National Bike to Work Week! Our focus was to encourage physically beneficial commuting methods that get the air running through your hair. We expanded our scope of vehicles beyond bikes to motorcycles, motorscooters, and even walking. It was a transformative experience as we embraced alternative transportation to work. Benefits of active commuting:Active commuting offers numerous advantages for both individuals and the environment. By incorporating physical activity into our daily commute, we reap the benefits of improved fitness levels, increased energy, and reduced stress.

At Smarty, we pride ourselves on our unique company culture, built on three core values: outwardness, wizardry, and fun. What does that mean? We're doing our best to build a company culture in a way that makes folks want to come to work. Smarty's missionCreate great productsAt Smarty, we specialize in location data intelligence, working with global address and location data in validation, autocomplete, and geocoding areas. Our services include:International & US Address Validation: Ensuring that addresses are correctly typed and mailable prevents delayed or returned packages.

Successful data governance requires more than just rules and policies. It requires a dedicated team of professionals with clear roles and responsibilities to effectively manage and protect the data. We recently published “Data Governance: An Executive’s Survival Guide”, an ebook that you can download right now. In it you’ll find information on data governance and other important factors in the address data game. The following is an excerpt on the section about the different roles and responsibilities involved in data governance.

On average, customers of Smarty process 3. 3 billion addresses collectively a day. If you were to count a single Cheeto for each address, that’s enough Cheetos to fill up 1,930 vans per day. If you were to start walking along the equator of the Earth and you took one step for each address, you’d make 38 trips around the planet. That’s a ton of address lookups. So with that much address data flying through our systems, we decided to host a webinar sharing some of the insights we’ve gained from the over 440 billion addresses that were validated in 2022.

This is part 2 of a 2 part series. You can read part 1 here. Anne: Several of you are involved as Diversity and Equity Mentors for the Computer Science Department at BYU (Brigham Young University). Can you tell us a bit about that?Savannah: I’m the lead mentor for the Inclusion, Diversity and Equity Mentors at BYU and it’s really awesome. We used to be called the Women’s Initiative’s Mentors, so we focus primarily on women because it is the largest minority group in computer science. But when COVID-19 hit, we broadened our initiatives to include our LGBTQ+ and international students.

I was recently asked two interesting questions:Why did you move from GoConvey to gunit?Are you recommending folks do the same?These are great questions, and since I'm a co-creator of GoConvey and the principal author of Gunit, I feel responsible for giving a thorough answer. For the impatient, here's the TL;DR:Question 1: Why did you move to gunit?After using GoConvey and feeling consistent friction with that approach, we came up with an alternate approach that was more aligned with what we value in a testing library and which eliminated said friction.

A convergence of holidaysIt's almost Memorial Day, a time when most of us take a little extra time to relax. For a lot of us, it signals the start of summer; it comes around the time most school years end, and in warmer places, pools start to open after Memorial day. It's a day of barbeques and soda and chips and lots of other things. But this year is special. Get out your limited-edition comics and author-signed fantasy novels. Throw your polyhedral dice on the tabletop. Grab your lightsabers.

Here at Smarty, we're mostly programmers and developers. There are a few needles in the haystack here that don't know "Unix" from "eunuchs", which is unfortunate, but we're working on that. And because we're all tech geeks over here, we like to talk about code, and tech, and why all that stuff is important. In that spirit, we decided to talk about code in a way that maybe all of us should have considered a long time ago. Your hidden meaningsLet's start with a scenario. Imagine you go on a museum tour.

Here at Smarty, we enjoy our geekery. All of us indulge in pop culture to some degree, and while we all enjoy different flavors of said pop culture, there's at least one we all agree on without question:Star Wars. And that means that May 4th is a pretty crucial holiday for us. Hopefully all of you are celebrating in some way. We celebrated by buying tickets to go see Avengers: Age of Ultron together as an office. It's another Disney property. . . and it's part of the reason this article was written.

Comcast's evil twinWe love our movies and our television. After a hard day at work, many Americans like to enjoy some downtime with a good TV show or movie. When technology advanced in the 1980s in the form of video cassette tapes, this gave us a new choice for how and when we consumed media. From this innovation came a natural outgrowth: the video store. Virtually every town in America had one. The stores weren't glamorous, but we came. We came because we value our ability to choose. Before long there came the video megastore: Blockbuster.

Why do some businesses fail and others succeed against all odds?On the last day of my microeconomics class, my professor asked us a question:"If there are 1. 333 trillion barrels of oil left on the planet and we use 6. 89 billion barrels of oil each year, how long will it take for us to run out of oil?"Pencils and calculators came out to solve what seemed like a math problem. I also started to do the long division, but then stepped back. It occurred to me that economics is a branch of sociology, not math.