Thank You Index Exchange

After working at Index Exchange right out of school for nearly 4 years, I started to work for Amazon this month.

I still remember attending the on-campus recruitment event. It was a whole day event with hiring companies holding info sessions at separate lecture rooms. There were info sessions for Intel and another company called Index Exchange happening at the same time. I had already gotten a chance to speak with an Intel engineer so I decided to attend the session for Index Exchange.

The room was filled with no more than 20 people since the majority of the students attended info sessions from more well-known companies. The recruiters, Aaron de Wit and Jessica Apelowicz, were personable, engaging, and passionate. I never heard of Index Exchange nor knew anything about advertising technology but they seemed like the people I would enjoy working with. I went home that day and told my mom Index Exchange had made the best impression on me.

I was happy when I got the Intel interview. The question I got was about string manipulation. It was meant to be easy to just get me started. It was easy, but I couldn’t solve it.

After a few weeks, I got the Index Exchange interview. I read up on all the topics covered and made sure I was able to answer all the questions posted on Glassdoor. I asked for the interview to be delayed for 3 weeks so I could have more time to study. I was prepared. I passed the phone screen and got invited to the on-site interview. My interviewer was Roni Gordon, who unbeknown to me at the time, would be the engineering lead I would work closely with throughout my time at Index Exchange. I solved some coding challenges, answered a few questions on how I would test a product, and eagerly showed him my mobile app. The interview ended a few minutes early since there was a meeting he needed to run to.

When I got the offer the following day I was happy, probably not as happy as my mom, but very happy. I studied and was fully prepared but I was also fortunate. Graduating with a commerce undergrad degree, I rushed through my computer science major in two years. I never had any engineering internship or co-op experience as most computer science students had. I could have easily not passed the resume screening. I might not have even passed myself.

Fast forwarded to 4 years later, I’m no longer working at Index Exchange. I needed a change at this point of my career. I want to tackle different technical challenges and learn how other companies approach problems.

I joined Index Exchange as a solutions engineer before transitioning to a data engineer and had been on multiple teams. One thing that is constant is the people. The engineers, managers, directors, product managers, engineering leads, agile coaches, commercial and facilities teams are all eager to help. No matter how senior a person is, it’s literally one message away.

I love Index Exchange. The work environment is amazing and the people are the reason why. There are so many people I’m happy to have gotten to know. A lot of them have helped me, a lot of them I call friends, and one I call my girlfriend. You know who you are and I want to thank every one of you.

I’m excited to get started on my new journey with Amazon. I wish everyone the best at Index Exchange and keep in touch!