Culture
This is Dany.
Dany’s hearty laugh and genuine smile are present all throughout the office, making Buyatab feel like home. Don’t be fooled by Dany’s quiet nature, he’s got one or two tricks up his sleeve and stories about adventures you would never believe.
Dany’s journey at Buyatab began in Customer Service where he started to take a personal interest in Buyatab’s internal procedures. This interest is what helped him seamlessly transition into his QA role two years later.
Q: What does a typical day at Buyatab look like for you?
QA involves a lot of collaboration between our QA team and developers. I generally start my morning either working on tickets or doing implementation reviews. Then, at 10:10 am I have a scrum meeting with my Super Awesome Agile Developers (S.A.A.D) team where we discuss updates on tickets we are working on. Help is always a chair roll away, as we communicate constantly with each other, especially if a problem arises! After I finish my own tickets, I’ll usually assist my QA team with their projects.
Q: What has been the most memorable moment so far at Buyatab?
I started my QA role at the same time we were migrating our servers to Amazon Web Services (AWS)- it was quite a ride! If someone was on the outside and looking in, I would say it might have looked like the whole tech team was fully focused on their tasks in the same way NASA engineers zero in on their monitors while launching a rocket into space. And of course, after the successful migration, our CTO ordered in an amazing dinner to celebrate the mission accomplished.
Q: In the office who would you like to switch roles with for a day and why?
That’s hard – it would have to be between Vohara (VP of Sales) and Moneca (VP of Finance) for different reasons.
Working in sales, you are given the opportunity to talk to a diverse group of people. It ultimately gives you a chance to improve your negotiation and interpersonal skills.
On the other hand, I have an interest in finance and accounting. It would be interesting to witness how she problem solves daily.
Q: If you could meet anyone, who would you meet?
This is another tough one for me. I have a wide variety of interests and I probably would not be able to meet all the masters in each field in this lifetime. However, if I really had to choose, I’d pick Michaelangelo.
Italian Renaissance art is my favourite. In Montréal, where I grew up, I used to go to the Musée des Beaux Arts and sit on the 4th floor where some of his paintings were always available for viewing.
The museum was my sanctuary. A place where I could relax, observe, and study paintings. For some reason, this activity always ended up inspiring me to sketch out my own pieces.
In my opinion, his best paintings are the ‘Sistine Chapel’ and ‘The Last Judgement’. They are top of the line classics! I could sit there for hours trying to decode and understand their full meaning. His attention to every detail was simply off the charts.
Q: What’s the last book you read?
I personally read a lot of non-fiction books, usually ones about productivity and personal improvement. The last book I read is called “Deep Work” by Cal Newport. I have a fascination for cognitive and behavioural science, more specifically, how to train the brain to improve productivity, growth, and learning. Cal Newport’s book addresses these topics and depicts how to stay ahead of the curve by ignoring possible distractions.
Q: If you could go anywhere, where would you go?
Well, let’s see.. I want to travel to every single continent! But I do have a goal of visiting every Latin American country, so … I guess I’d start with Cuba. Since I relate to their culture, music, and food, it would give me an opportunity to practice my Spanish! Also, I occasionally salsa and having a local master salsero take me under his wing for a couple of days would be a cherry on top of this Cuban adventure!
