For this month’s Smart City Spotlight, we spoke with John Major, a Software Developer, whose work behind the scenes plays a critical role in how Smart City Networks’ systems, tools, and websites function every day. With a background rooted in computer science, startups, and API-driven development, John brings a thoughtful, customer-focused approach to building and improving the platforms our teams rely on across the country.
In his role, John supports both internal operations and external-facing systems and modernizes legacy code to improve performance, security, and usability. John’s work directly supports our venue partners and field teams by making information more accessible, reliable, and efficient. In this Spotlight, John shares his journey into software development, what he enjoys most about his role, and a surprising fun fact that highlights his creative side outside of code. John Major, this is your Spotlight!
Hi John! To begin, could you tell us a little about your journey and how you became a Software Developer?
J: I started working on a few startups during my time in the computer science program with the University of Florida. I worked mostly with Google Maps and Spotify API to generate event-based planning software for college students. From there, I worked with various teams in the Internet Utility space and Credit Unions, where I learned a lot about the software development lifecycle and how to best benefit customers internally and externally. I eventually found myself back in the Internet and Event space as a perfect combination through Smart City!
What led you to Smart City?
J: Smart City caught my eye by having a great combination between providing Internet solutions as well as Events through their convention centers. It seemed like a great opportunity to work on what I enjoy and grow in the process.
What does a typical day look like for you?
J: I start with Morning Line Up where we go over our daily tasks and expectations. I then move on to items I planned out through our Sprint Board such as: Support Ticket Items or new Website Features. I try to knock out heavy development-related tasks early in the day so that I have time to review and ask questions when needed.
How does your work connect with the operations happening at our partnered convention centers across the country?
J: My work will usually impact internal processes such as how our data is stored or presented on our websites. I also work with web tools that our teams use such as Phoenix, Bear, and My Accounts.
What’s a project you’ve worked on recently that you’re especially proud of?
J: A project I finished recently that I was proud to work on was the Surveys Dashboard in Bear. This project was a great way for me to show what I’ve learned through my time here at Smart City as well as bring back some of my Google map knowledge from earlier startups. This tool refactored a lot of legacy code in Bear and presents the data in a modern way.
Do you have a favorite or rewarding part of your job? Why?
J: Having the ability to add new features to our websites is very rewarding. I can see the impact it has on the company in a very short amount of time. Every project I work on is an opportunity to learn and improve.
What’s one technical challenge you’ve faced here that taught you something valuable?
J: A technical Challenge I faced recently was converting our sales contracts from Actuate to internal systems. This involved a lot of PDF and HTML manipulation, which led me down a path of complicated tooling with endless code to generate simple documents. I learned that sometimes the simple solution done by hand can outperform modern tools if you have the patience to try and implement a rough draft over a perfect finished product the first time.
How would you describe your team culture? Is it hard being remote?
J: The team’s culture is amazing, and I’m surrounded by people I can rely on and who always have my back. Being remote was never an issue as I’ve grown up with remote communication tools to interact with friends throughout my life such as TeamSpeak, Ventrilo, and now Discord. Any problems that arise are a quick Teams message/screen share call away.
What’s something most people might not realize about the work your team does?
J: Something that’s not visible but is very important is the framework/package updates that happen multiple times a year. These updates usually don’t cause visible changes but are required to keep our software secure and running smoothly. These updates can be problematic as not every package updates along with the major framework releases. This means we need to rewrite a lot of the code relying on these out-of-date packages in order for our websites to function the same as before.
Overall, Are there any skills you’ve developed here that have surprised you?
J: I’ve learned a lot about planning my work ahead of time. I have gained many skills in time management and estimating how long tasks take to complete.
What’s one piece of advice you’d give to someone interested in software development?
J: I believe that the most important aspect of software development is the flow of data throughout an application. If you can keep track of data, whether that be through manipulation, storing, or exchanging, any programming language or software becomes similar and easy to work with.
And lastly, what’s something fun that people might not know about you?
J: Something most people might not know about me is that I’ve played and taught marching percussion for many years (2011-2019). I marched with Infinity Percussion and the Crossmen Drum and Bugle Corps playing Quads. I taught percussion at high schools such as Freedom High School in Orlando and Infinity Percussion here in Gainesville.
We want to thank John Major for taking the time to reflect on his journey with our company! To read more Smart City Spotlights, check out our blog!
