[ibimage==34590==Original==none==self==ibimage_align-right]eBags set out in 1999 to become the online destination for bags and all things travel. Fast-forward 16 years, and the company has sold over 22 million bags. To put that into perspective, that’s like selling a bag to every man, woman and child in New York City, London, Los Angeles and Denver – and then selling another million bags to somebody else. Mike Frazzini is the Senior Vice President of Technology and Interim CTO of eBags. It’s his job to make sure eBags’ website stays fast, secure and error free. Frazzini was the first IT person to join eBags in its infancy, and has led the team from its lean beginnings to its status as an online behemoth. We caught up with Frazzini to pick his brain:
What technologies power your business? Purpose built custom applications crafted on various web applications platforms and development frameworks, database and data infrastructure solutions, open source, cloud, and other best of breed applications - all from companies and communities like Microsoft and .Net (4.0+), Oracle, Amazon, Elasticsearch, .Net MVC, AngularJS, Bootstrap, jQuery, among many others.
What upcoming tech project are you most proud of? Implementation of a new search engine and faceted navigation to improve the performance and relevancy of the eBags discovery experience so our visitors can more easily refine their selections and find their perfect bags. With an assortment that exceeds 50,000 bags and accessories across many different categories and types – from Luggage to Handbags to Travel Accessories and beyond – it is critical that we provide our visitors with the best technology and experience to quickly find what they need.
What trends do you see in the tech scene over the next three years? Mainstream adoption of more powerful and flexible client-side technologies and standards like HTML5, up and coming JavaScript libraries and frameworks, and web sockets. Continued migration to the cloud to drive performance, cost improvements, and abstraction and elasticity of physical server and network infrastructure. Continued support for mobile and diverse devices and relevancy in customer experience. Increased importance and visibility of DevOps to provide more continuous delivery and software defined everything that allows for controllable artifacts and automated control of all aspects of application lifecycle management. Increased reliance and prominence of Business Intelligence, Data Science, and user and customer centric data analysis and visualization tools.
What sort of people do you look for when hiring? While all four are important, aptitude and attitude trump experience and knowledge as we look for people who are able to drive and adapt increasingly dynamic and powerful technical tools and practices. We also want people who like to have fun while working hard, and who identify with and own our purpose of equipping people well for all of their life’s journeys.
What are some lessons you’ve learned about working in Colorado? Words of wisdom?While Colorado has a great and rapidly growing technology community, at times it can be a little insular from some of the emerging advancements and innovations that happen in the bigger centers of technology like the Silicon Valley (among others). It makes it so especially important to stay networked and connected - both locally and nationally - and to continuously seek out forums and partners that can assist with the rapid dissemination of emerging technology advancements.
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