T2 has some of the brightest minds in the parking industry, and each employee brings a unique set of talents and experiences to the table. We thought you might like to learn more about these talented individuals. In our Employee Spotlight series, you’ll get to know one employee each month. This month we talked to Cory Miller, Manager, Application Development.
Where did you grow up?
I grew up in the country between Connersville and New Castle, IN, and graduated from Connersville High School in 1997.
What drew you to working in software development?
I always enjoyed technology, and my parents bought me an Apple II GS back when computers cost an arm and a leg (late 80s/early 90s). That lit some kind of spark inside me and I ended up dabbling in BASIC at a young age. My elementary school was fortunate enough to have an Apple computer lab and I continued my journey by becoming the top Number Munchers player in my school. (Fayette Central Elementary School, where my mother was my Gym Teacher. Yes, I got in trouble a bunch.)
After elementary, my high school offered “Programming with BASIC,” and that was one of the best classes I’ve ever taken. We got to program computers, mess around on something called a BBS, and ask as many questions as we wanted to our teacher, Mr. Lunsford, who worked at some really cool place before coming to teach the next generation. I found out later in life that not many school systems were doing what the Fayette County School Corporation was doing and I felt really fortunate.
After I graduated high school I knew I wanted to pursue computer science. Software development and hardware systems were the two paths I could go down. After looking through all the classes each path offered, I decided to go down the software path and never looked back. I graduated from Ball State in 2003 with a BS in Computer Science. I minored in Management of Information Systems (MIS).
How did you end up in the parking industry?
A bit by accident. I was approached by a recruiter to fill an Application Development Manager position and it sounded really interesting (mixture of hardware and software), but I didn’t know the company or industry until I actually went through a phone screen. After some initial conversations I learned the job was with a company called T2, who “did parking”. We’ve all used parking so I thought I had a pretty good idea of what that meant, but I soon learned there was a lot more to the industry than I could have imagined. There were some interesting challenges the position needed to solve and it sounded like a really good opportunity, so I went for it.
What do you do as Manager, Application Development for T2?
As a Manager for the Flex/Ascent product lines, one of my main responsibilities is resource management. I currently manage seven super-talented software engineers who help support, improve, and enhance the Flex, Ascent, and Mobile Enforcement ecosystems. Things like reviews, merit increases, and managing PTO are all things that fall under this part of the role.
Another part of this role involves process creation/improvement, career development combined with continued education, and helping keep resources aligned/assigned to T2 priorities. Priorities can change and resources may need to be redirected, so another part of this role is working with various groups to ensure the right talent is on the right effort. If folks have to move, it is vital to communicate out any and all risks associated with moving people from here to there. Many times this can affect deadlines, so communicating these types of things out has to happen as soon as possible.
What’s something that you think people don’t know about parking that you find interesting?
What I’ve come to learn is that we build in a lot of risk management into the hardware/software solution to dissuade people from “gaming” the system. I didn’t realize there were as many ways to do this as there are, and it is pretty fascinating when these are brought up.
What do you enjoy about working at T2?
What really drew me to the role is the mixture of hardware and software. I also really enjoy the folks I work with. It is really cool to see a group of individuals come together and get things across the finish line. Not only with my direct reports – I work across two or three different departments, and watching the teamwork happen is really satisfying. There is a lot of work and opportunities popping up daily, but the team behind the work is second to none. There are very smart people ensuring our solutions work the way we say they will work.
What’s something most people don’t know about you?
Music production is a passion of mine. I play drums and run sound for a local ‘90s cover band. I also enjoy electronic music creation using an app called Reason. I am also horrible with navigation/directions.
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