Sam Shulman

Get to know Sam Shulman

What are you looking for in your next role?

I truly think I can mesh well in many different working environments but I am mostly looking for a role where I have a lot of structure and communication. I enjoy having a clear laid-out plan in front of me that I can tackle and when that’s not present, I can waver and not be as productive as I would like. That also brings in the second piece-- communication. I need to have a team that is open and honest with me as we tackle problems together. If my next role is super independent and I’m left on my own to develop, I will have trouble finding the meaning in my work and I tend to work more efficiently when communication is paramount. Those are not very specific answers but I do genuinely consider myself to be very flexible and other than those two factors, I have a hard time defining what I want in the future.

Why did you decide to change career and/or educational paths? What was your prior path and how did you end up down that road initially?

Prior to joining Launch Academy, my career interests were in flux. I had graduated from UMass with a Journalism degree and was trying to make it as a freelance writer. While I enjoy writing at its core, I had a lot of bad experiences with certain companies and it diminished my appreciation for my career. I started writing because I am passionate about sports and I wanted to be a sports-writer but due to the overall direction of the Journalism industry and having graduated during COVID, it didn’t work out for me. Ultimately, I am motivated by having a schedule and having a structured day so freelance writing wasn’t a healthy option for me and it caused me to pursue Launch.

Where have you been involved in the tech community (events attended, volunteer activities, etc.)?

As Launch Academy is my first technical endeavor, I have not had a lot of time to attend events in the Boston area but I am looking forward to attending Hackathons upon the conclusion of the program. Also, the coffee and code events in Boston look like something that is right up my alley.

What has been the most fulfilling aspect of your journey towards becoming a web developer? What's been your biggest challenge and how have you overcome it?

As someone who is in the very early stages of their development journey, I have had many moments of doubt. Obviously, learning all of these new skills and technologies is quite daunting and at the beginning of the Launch Academy program, I felt like I was moving slowly and wasn’t qualified for this endeavor. That being said, after about a month in, something clicked and suddenly, the logic required for a lot of our projects made more sense to me. While it’s not necessarily a scientific answer, I do believe there are lightbulb moments that come with this journey and that first one gave me a lot of drive to continue on with my learning. My biggest technical challenge comes from keeping a cool head when something isn’t working how I expect it. Earlier in the program, I would get very flustered in the face of errors but now, I have a good structure in place to properly debug my apps without getting too stressed. As someone who is typically a little stubborn and likes to finish a project in one go, it was difficult for me to step away at first but now, I am able to recognize that stepping away and letting go for a little bit is a more efficient way to use my time.

If you had an unlimited budget and resources, what would you build?

If I could build anything with an unlimited budget, it would likely be an all in one sports score app. I would like to connect to either fantasy sports or the newly legalized sportsbooks so you can track your bets/players easier than any of the current options. Also, it would be great to include better highlight tracking and a way to quickly catch up on a game if you happened to miss the first half. Obviously, securing Professional sports media rights would be a difficult endeavor, but hey, I have an unlimited budget. There are a few apps on the market that are 90% of the way there but as someone who consumes a ton of sports, an all in one app for all of my separate tabs would be my one true dream project.