Welcome to Fluid Truck’s Employee Spotlight blog! We love highlighting our awesome employees and introducing you to the great people behind Fluid Truck.
At Fluid Truck, our product is people. We bring in smart, talented people with a lot of ambition and give them the opportunity to grow and expand their skill sets rapidly. Our end goal is to equip every person who joins our team with the skills they need to one day grow beyond us and create incredible things on their own.
Dive into Connor’s world. He’s a mastermind behind our Business Intelligence team. Read as he shares insights into the data-driven backbone of Fluid Truck, his passion for analytics, and a surprisingly sharp talent outside the office.
Let's roll into this fascinating conversation, that not only sheds light on the work that powers Fluid Truck forward but also the unique individuals who drive us into the future. Interviews are edited for clarity.
What do you do at Fluid Truck?
I run the BI (Business Intelligence) team. We're responsible for the heavy analytics, ensuring reports get to the right people at the right time. Ensuring that we remain a data-driven organization and that we have high-fidelity reporting capabilities.
What’s your favorite part of your job?
I like every element of my job to be honest. I have lots of autonomy. Every day I come in and it's a different project, something new to think about, some new problem to overcome.
This year I'm particularly excited about our migration to more advanced analytics. Last year we set up really cool predictive models, touching the surface of AI. this year we're going hyperdrive on that.
When you aren’t working, what are you usually doing?
Also working... I like working! I play D&D, I golf, I play a lot of poker... which is not great for my financial health.
Do you have any secret talents?
I'm sword fighter... There's a dojo I'm a part of. We practice with quite a few of the martial weapons: long swords, broadswords, daggers, stabs, etc.
What’s the best career advice you’ve ever received?
Fundamentally, people appreciate hyper competence. Which doesn't mean you have to be the best in your role (though it helps, don’t get me wrong ) but if you can deliver results every day, come in and perform as expected; people see that as a very positive attribute.
I'd also add, “say what you do, and do what you say.”
What motivates you at work?
The other people. When you see team members pushing themselves to their limits, it really underscores how we're all in this to pursue a mission. We're changing the way the supply chain works in this country in a meaningful way. And that's a really motivating piece on its own. But with how dedicated others in this company can be in serving that mission, it really speaks to what we’re doing.
If you had a TED Talk, what would it be about?
I was really into journalism in college. Something about speaking truth to power resonated within me. I had a publication I produced in a guerilla format, called the Stall Street Journal, and I published it myself. It was always anonymous.
Every month, I'd print something out at Kinkos and tape it all over the campus in men's bathrooms. Usually it was scathing editorials about teachers, professors, student tell-alls, frat/sorority hijinks, stuff like that. It was like a gossip piece. So I would probably want to do the same thing, but for local politics.
Do you have a guilty pleasure?
Poker. I like the numbers element, and the human intersection. Reading the player and being able to surmise their hand, and how the action will unfold. But it's a very vice-gripped game. A lot of the games I play are higher stakes than they probably should be. But I just can't help it! It fires off those dopamine receptors.
What’s the worst job you’ve ever had?
TGI Fridays... they put me as a busboy and I did not last. I don’t know how servers do it... touching those plates that are super hot. The one benefit of the job was the mozz sticks. They have the little rectangular ones. You got a free meal every night... I'd get the mozz sticks and a chocolate lava cake.
What would you tell someone who wants to come work at Fluid Truck?
If you can envision yourself being an actual trucker on a long haul route, crushing those nights, sleeping in the cabin, and really pushing yourself to your limits, I would say you belong here as a trucker at Fluid Truck.
Want to work somewhere where you and your fellow truckers are constantly pushing limits and challenging each other? Click here to check out open positions at Fluid Truck.
