When a new technology hits the market, some engineers will immediately start mastering its nuances and applications — but Matti Barzilai takes a different approach.
“I’m generally not the type to jump into learning a new technology trend right away, but I pay attention to how people are seeing the value of something new,” she said. “That way, I’m able to prioritize my time in learning something that I believe can bring meaningful value to my work and overall career goals.”
Barzilai, a senior back-end engineer at SpotHero, has been driven by a sense of curiosity throughout her career. She shared that she stays up to date on the latest tech advancements by listening to podcasts and browsing the SpotHero engineering department’s Slack channel, where team members share insightful articles and resources.
“I’ve personally read much of what’s been shared in the channel and have learned a lot from it,” Barzilai said.
Learning from others is essential for engineers eager to build out their skill set. That’s why Megan Wrest, an expert application engineer at Discover, makes an effort to attend conferences and local meetups in addition to browsing platforms like Wired and Stack Overflow as a way to stay informed about tech trends and emerging technologies.
She noted that her team has made it even easier to share and receive knowledge by implementing “Learning Fridays,” where she and her peers host lunch-and-learn sessions and share their insights with the team.
“This collaborative approach not only strengthens our personal knowledge but also reinforces a culture where learning is valued, encouraged and shared across the organization,” Wrest said.
Barzilai and Wrest, refining one’s skill set is a matter of connecting with the right people — and the right resources. Below, both engineers share more about how they keep their skills sharp and how the cultures at their companies and on their teams fuel their continuous growth.
Discover is a financial services company that offers credit cards, online banking, personal, student and home loans, and mortgage refinancing.
Give us a snapshot of what you do to stay on top of your engineering knowledge and skills.
I keep my engineering skills sharp by embracing challenges at work, where I’m fortunate to engage with constantly evolving technology and feature-rich work. This continuous shift naturally provides opportunities to learn new languages, tools, methodologies and processes, keeping my skills relevant and fresh. When I want to build a specific skill, I take targeted courses that align with my learning goals. Additionally, I make it a priority to attend tech conferences and local meetups to help me stay informed about the latest trends and emerging technologies while connecting with fellow engineers.
To reinforce my learning and hold myself accountable, I try to set aside dedicated time each week to build my skills, whether that’s through hands-on practice, reading technical articles or experimenting with new tools. While it doesn’t always go as planned, I’ve found that scheduling a dedicated focus session on Fridays is a great way to close out the week while investing in personal growth. Learning is a continuous journey, and staying engaged ensures I remain adaptable and forward-thinking in my field.
“To reinforce my learning and hold myself accountable, I try to set aside dedicated time each week to build my skills, whether that’s through hands-on practice, reading technical articles or experimenting with new tools.”
What are your go-to resources for keeping your engineering skills sharp?
The internet, which I know is a broad statement, but it is truly an invaluable resource for continuous learning and so easily accessible. Gone are the days of pulling out the family’s encyclopedia collection to look up information. I frequently browse platforms like Wired, Medium and Stack Overflow to stay informed, and I also turn to Codewars, freeCodeCamp and GeeksforGeeks for free tutorials and problem-solving exercises that keep my coding skills sharp. Engaging in these challenges encourages me to think creatively and develop efficient and clever solutions. To me, engineering is getting to solve a new puzzle every day, which makes the work fun and exciting. Whether I’m troubleshooting a complex issue or automating a repetitive task, I always look for ways to optimize processes while expanding my knowledge.
What does the learning culture look like at Discover and on your engineering team?
Discover fosters a strong culture of continuous learning, making skill-building a key part of our personal goals each year. We have a robust internal learning and knowledge-sharing platform called the Discover Technology Academy, which allows engineers to share information and best practices across the company via articles, documentation, tutorials, hosted workshops and more. Recently, the company launched an AWS Certification Challenge to encourage employees to expand their cloud expertise and show the company’s commitment to continuous learning.
On my team, we’ve embraced “Learning Fridays,” where members dedicate time to developing new skills. Many of us utilize what we’ve learned to host lunch-and-learn sessions and share our insights with the team. This collaborative approach not only strengthens our personal knowledge but also reinforces a culture where learning is valued, encouraged and shared across the organization.
SpotHero’s mobile app enables people to find off-street parking in over 300 U.S. cities.
Give us a snapshot of what you do to stay on top of your engineering knowledge and skills.
My natural curiosity has always helped me in my career. I try to learn by questioning anything that I don’t understand and using that as a jumping-off point to learn something new. If I’m in the codebase and someone is using a tool I’m not familiar with, I spend a few minutes researching to understand the tool so that I can get some context. I listen to engineering podcasts and follow forums to keep myself updated. I also enjoy hearing from colleagues and friends about their projects and tools. I’m generally not the type to jump into learning a new technology trend right away, but I pay attention to how people are seeing the value of something new. That way, I’m able to prioritize my time in learning something that I believe can bring meaningful value to my work and overall career goals.
“If I’m in the codebase and someone is using a tool I’m not familiar with, I spend a few minutes researching to understand the tool so that I can get some context.”
What are your go-to resources for keeping your engineering skills sharp?
Working at SpotHero has led to me learning new skills as an engineer. In the past year alone, I’ve learned how to code in Python and gained knowledge of the Django web framework. SpotHero’s engineering team has a dedicated time for learning, which we call “Discovery Days.” I’ve been able to take advantage of my Discovery Day time to continuously hone my skills, especially in relevant coding languages or frameworks that I may not be as familiar with. Prior to SpotHero, I was working mostly with Java and Kotlin, so it’s been great to expand my skill set as a software engineer. In fact, most of my recent work has been in Python.
Improving and keeping my skills sharp is also made easier by the knowledge-sharing that happens within the engineering department. We have a dedicated Slack channel where we share articles and resources that other engineers might be interested in. I’ve personally read much of what’s been shared in the channel and have learned a lot from it. I’m also a part of a pilot group for the engineering team, which is a group of engineers who use and test a new engineering tool for a couple of months to determine if it’s something worth investing in.
What does the learning culture look like at SpotHero and on your engineering team?
Learning is definitely a big part of SpotHero’s culture and is something that is supported and encouraged by the company and within the engineering department. As part of our employee learning perks, I have access to a learning budget that I can use to purchase learning resources that align with my personal and professional development goals.
We also have a mentorship program that I’m a part of as both a mentor and mentee. Being on both sides of the mentorship program gives me an opportunity to help someone else in the company with their development goals while also being able to access valuable mentorship from a subject matter expert who I might not work with on a daily basis. For this year’s mentorship program, I’m looking forward to working with my mentor in further building my expertise in the Django web framework and helping my mentee with their coaching needs.
