Matthew Buck
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MIS, University of Texas 2006
What work brought you to your job today?
I am currently working at my third startup. The nature of the startup space involves a fair amount of moving around, but you accrue an incredible amount of experience for your troubles. Oftentimes, you may become the most senior person on a development team in a matter of months. This gives you the ability to make decisions that you would otherwise not have the chance to make at a larger, more established firm.What do you do in your current job?
Currently, I am responsible for building and maintaining a public-facing email overload mitigation web application (http://otherinbox.com). We recently launched at TechCrunch50, and we have received a good deal of press in the week since. So far, we have had mentions in 4 of the 5 top blogs in the world. I am also responsible for helping to migrate our hosting infrastructure to an entirely Amazon Web Services-backed, auto-scaling solution. This will be my second AWS migration for a startup, the first having been for OrgSync.What do you value from your MIS education?
I really value the business sense that I developed in the program. I have really seen the advantage this has given me over my colleagues in the startup space with CS degrees. Many CEOs at startups really value that type of knowledge. I also value the team-building skills that I acquired in the program. Being part of a great development team means constantly adapting to the behaviors of your teammates in ways that are mutually beneficial. This is a skill that I developed while a part of the MIS program.What is your advice for current students?
Explore as much as you can. It's very important that you find a career path that suits you. Personally, I love what I do. That's what makes all the difference in the professional (and the adult) world.