At CareerBuilder, our team is the reason we are a leader in the industry. We want you to know who is behind the company and is #BuildingForYou! Every month, we highlight CareerBuilder team members and their stories, from celebrating individuality and lending personal experience to industry topics and everything in between.
Meet Monica Skidmore, Engineering Lead for our Core Search team. Based in our Norcross, Georgia office (in Atlanta) and a member of the CareerBuilder family for the past nine years, she is continuously inspired and motivated by the learning environment in our organization. Keep reading to find out more about this eternal learner and how her love for tech and development drove her career path.
What is your current role and in what role did you start with CareerBuilder?
While I'm currently an engineering lead for our Core Search team, I started in 2011 as a software engineer on what was then our Search Technology team.
What do you enjoy most about working at CareerBuilder?
I love the learning environment at CareerBuilder. We are always learning how to do new things, and everyone is willing to share what they know.
What is your favorite project that you have worked on during your time at CareerBuilder?
I’ve been involved with a wide variety of projects at CareerBuilder and loved the teamwork over the years. My favorite might be the project I did for a Hackathon – an internal innovation competition that was held with a prize of six weeks dedicated to working through your own project. I worked on a feature that, using CareerBuilder supply and demand labor market data, recommended additional, more ideal locations for job postings. This work took me well out of my comfort zone, working with new teams and creating UI elements – not my normal area of expertise. I finished and tested the feature, then put it into production. Since one of my prior jobs was all research, it was exciting to see my work go live in front of so many customers and directly impact the bottom line.
What advice would you give to someone that is just starting out at CareerBuilder?
Carefully pay attention to everything to understand how the products fit together and what your customers really need.
What was your first job and what were your biggest takeaways from the experience?
My first ‘real’ job was as a software developer at a company that conducted AI/Human Factors research projects, primarily for the Air Force. I helped develop a proof-of-concept, intelligent interface for the next-generation fighter aircraft. I met some of the Air Force’s most talented pilots and radar operators, and had fun applying new AI concepts to the understanding of human behavior and data display needs. I learned I could really dig into technical problems to implement novel computer behaviors that have a huge, positive impact on the users. And when I found a bug in the operating system we were using, I proved to myself that testing is never wasted time.
What is the last book you read?
I belong to a science fiction book club that was started by CareerBuilder employees. We just took a break from fiction to read “Hyperspace” by Michio Kaku.
I’m not a physicist, but I’ve always been fascinated by light and quantum theory. Kaku explains modern physics and the universe by telling a history of humanity’s discoveries (going as far back as Newton) and explaining the evolution of 20th century theories in detail. Beyond the science, Kaku shows how great thinkers pull from forgotten ideas in the past and blend them with their own ideas to move knowledge forward. Many valuable contributions have come from scientists outside of the mainstream who think in different and creative ways.
