Employee Q&A: Get to Know Caleb Dudley, Front-End Engineer

Describe your role at CashStar.
I’m a Front-End Engineer. Simply put, I build things for the web that users actively engage with every day. I get to develop and maintain the user interfaces of applications developed in-house, which means I work closely with our product team and UX designer(s) to make sure the final product is the absolute best it can be for our customers. My day-to-day responsibilities include being a ScrumMaster for our development team. This means aside from being a member, I also help facilitate our team by engaging in Scrum, an agile framework, which allows us to be self-organizing and self-managing. Specifically, I work with the Product Owner to protect the team from outside distractions, remove team impediments to allow completion of sprint work, and promote positive Scrum values.

How did you come to work at CashStar?
Back in 2012, I moved from Connecticut (where I grew up) with my wife to Maine (where she grew up) and started at a small company in Portland’s Old Port. That company didn’t survive, so I was in the market for a new job when I saw that CashStar was hiring. At the time, CashStar was a much smaller company, but after examining its business model and recognizing the powerhouse roster of clients, I was instantly hooked. I knew CashStar was going to continue to do great things.

What’s your favorite thing about working at CashStar?
I get this question a lot from engineers I help interview, and I have always said (and continue to say) that my favorite thing about working here are the people. The culture here is amazing, and I’ve never worked with such caring, goofy, and talented people—my coworkers alone are enough reason to come in every day.

What excites you most about working in the gift card ecommerce space?
I’ve always been one for challenges, and the gift card definitely presents its fair share. Mostly though, I love to see how people use our solutions, whether it’s just buying someone a coffee via social media, or uploading a custom video when sending an eGift Card to a friend or loved one. The idea of branded currency is ever-evolving with newer generations and is allowing for some really terrific innovation in the digital world. Because of this, I see CashStar helping tie the digital world with the physical, which further unites us all.

What is your favorite lunch spot?
My favorite place for lunch is Gilbert’s Chowder House. I’m not saying other places aren’t great for lunch – there is no shortage of delicious places to eat – but nothing beats Gilbert’s seafood chowder (maybe in a bread bowl) on a cold winter day.

What are you up to when you are not at CashStar?
I love to travel. In the past few years I’ve been lucky enough to have visited Hawaii, California, Florida, and most recently the Dominican Republic. I’m hoping to get back to Europe someday soon.

What occupation did you want to have when you were a child?
I’ve always wanted to be an astronaut, or somehow make a living exploring space—and that obsession has never faded. If you walk by my desk, you’ll see on my second monitor a dashboard of all-things-space (shameless plug—spacedashboard.com) that I created so I can take a breather during the day to see what’s happening in the cosmos.

To learn more about front-end engineering positions and other career opportunities at CashStar, visit our Careers page.