From music to movies to rocket launches, media streaming has completely transformed the way we interact with and ingest content online. But while the experience may feel simple and seamless to us, the technology behind that experience is anything but.
Since 2005, Wowza Media Systems has been on a mission to change that, building customizable and scalable tools to help businesses of all sizes simplify the process of streaming audio and video content — and deliver it to their users in under three seconds.
Powering streams from big names like Facebook, SpaceX and Vimeo, Wowza leverages the expertise of video and technology veterans here in Colorado and all around the world to stay on the cutting edge of an ever-evolving industry.
We caught up with Director of Engineering Scott Moskalik — who leads Wowza’s web systems development, IT services and billing teams — to learn more about the people behind the product and his unique approach to leading and building an unstoppable tech team.
We understand you’ve been with Wowza for quite a while — first as a remote employee and more recently as a member of the Colorado office. How’s the transition going so far?
The transition from my home office in California to working out of the Golden, Colorado office has been going great! Wowza had been asking me for years to move out to Colorado, but I had always been reluctant to move away from our parents and long-time friends in the Bay Area. When my wife suggested it was time to try something new, we started seriously looking at the opportunities Colorado could provide for us and how it could help my career with Wowza. So we decided to pack up with our five-year-old son and head to Colorado.
After being here for the past four months, we couldn’t be happier. My family and I have enjoyed exploring all the things that Colorado has to offer. We went to a Colorado Rockies game, visited the farmers markets, went to the top of Mt. Evans, hiked all sorts of new trails and have loved trying many new restaurants.
How do you think your experience working both as a remote employee and an in-office employee shapes your approach as a leader?
I really didn’t think that the approach to my job would change much when I came to Colorado, but after being here for a few months, I realize things have changed drastically. Working at home really allowed me to focus on the work. What I’ve found since I starting coming into the office each day is that, now, I can focus on the relationships, which is key to being an effective leader.
The interactions and conversations that I have in the office are so beneficial to not only me but to the individuals on the teams that I lead, as it allows them to focus on the work and I can do a much better job keeping the work aligned with the priorities of the company as well as clearing out roadblocks that might be getting in their way.
One of the biggest things I have learned over the years is that, if you want people to perform their best, you need to listen to them and find out what they truly love to do.”
How would you describe your style as a manager?
I’m a hands-off manager and rely on the people on my team to tell me what they need. I feel my job as a manager is to be there for the team to help set the priorities and get them the things they need to accomplish their work.
One of the biggest things I have learned over the years is that, if you want people to perform their best, you need to listen to them and find out what they truly love to do. Once you learn what they love, you let them focus on those things and be there for them in a supportive role. Not only do you end up getting the best work out of your team, but their level of happiness on the job goes through the roof.
Recently, I was talking with one of the developers on the web development team and I learned that he was spending lots of extra time on the weekends and evenings working on one of the big projects we have going on right now. I asked him why he was spending so much extra time on the project; the project was completely on schedule and there wasn’t any reason to put in the extra hours. His response? “Because I love it! This is one of the most fun projects I have worked on and I really love what we are building!”
What specific skills or attributes are you looking for in a future hire?
I look for the technical skills necessary to do the job, but I also look to see what special interests and skills they can bring to the team. If you hire a team where someone has a passion for PHP frameworks, someone else loves infrastructure, another person loves databases and someone else loves architecting systems, you end up with a very well-rounded team that won’t get siloed into one particular solution just because that is all they know.
The other attribute I look for is personality and overall cultural fit for the team. I have found that the most valuable team members are those who have opinions but who are also open to hearing other people’s opinions and can listen to them in an open, respectful way. Strong egos are something I try to avoid when hiring. Not only does it lower the overall morale of the team but you end up with solutions architected by the team member with the loudest voice, rather than a collaboration across all team members.
Tell us about a moment that caused you to take a step back and think, “Yeah, that’s exactly the kind of team I want to create.”
These moments come up when we have one of our Agile Retrospective meetings. The retrospective meetings are when, as a team, we look back at the past two weeks and talk about what went well, what didn’t go well and what we can do better. It’s such a great feeling when team members feel safe enough to bring up anything they want to say, even when it may be something related to an action taken by another team member. There is so much respect among the team that nobody ever gets offended because nothing is ever a personal attack. Rather, we talk about the incident and are able to figure out together what we can do to make things better going forward. People on the team realize that the point of the retrospective meetings is to make the team better, and it feels great to have created an environment for them where they feel safe bringing up anything they feel can help further that goal.
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