Let’s learn more about Cesar’s background and his journey that led him to Boomerang.
Q: Tell us about yourself Cesar!
I’m from Ojai, California, and went to high school with Boomerang’s CEO Skyler, where we were classmates and also football teammates. After high school, I earned my Associate’s degree in Computer Science at Santa Barbara City College, and my bachelor’s in Computer Science at Cal State Northridge. At first, going into community college, I didn’t know what I wanted to do like most of my friends and classmates. But what I did know was that I’ve always loved having the latest and greatest technology, and gaming was a consistent hobby of mine growing up. During those college years, Skyler and I lost contact since he studied across the country in Philadelphia, but we were Facebook friends and I could tell from his Facebook posts that he was also very interested in technology and entrepreneurship.
I think the cool thing about community college is that you learn what you don’t like. For me, after taking a few classes in video editing, I knew that wasn’t something I wanted to do. But one of the requirements for computer engineering was a computer science 101 class, and that’s where I found my love for software engineering. I loved everything about it. I loved the challenge. I loved the complexity so much that I ended up joining computer science clubs on campus that opened many opportunities for me to kickstart my career: one of which was a project to code mitigation steps to save battery data for a satellite.
Flash forward a few years, Skyler wrote to me on Facebook and wanted to catch up after a decade. It was like nothing changed – he still made me laugh, inspired me like he did in football, and during that conversation, he told me about Boomerang. The following week we met for dinner, and the following week, I joined Boomerang as their first full-time backend engineer.
Q: Prior to Boomerang, what were you doing?
Before Boomerang, I was a systems engineer at a mortgage company called PennyMac. I initially joined as an intern, and one of the first tasks was to automate infrastructure. I updated software on hundreds of servers through automation, and then that turned into helping AppDev teams build infrastructure to run their applications. After four years of being there, I was designing and helping to automate infrastructure for these applications that gained tons of traffic and generated millions of dollars. It was a great experience.
Q: What made you want to join the Boomerang team?
I joined the Boomerang team for the challenge and opportunity to learn new things. Honestly, I felt bored at my previous company, but when I talked with Skyler and saw his similar passion and drive for success, I knew something felt right. When I first interviewed, I met the entire team and got a strong feel for each person and the work environment, and loved it. It was a lot more freedom to do what I wanted to do because it’s a much wider scope of work than you would have at a large company with thousands of people.
In many big companies, you’re thrown into maintaining or updating old application and infrastructure code, but you never have too many chances to create anything new. Since we’re building new technologies, we’re understanding how things actually work –– building things from the ground up gives you a much deeper understanding than something that was already there.
So overall, I’m excited to work with passionate and smart people who are moving fast to problem-solve and disrupt an archaic, massive industry by working with matching algorithms and big data. That’s what really made me want to join in on the fun!
Q: What is your favorite memory so far at Boomerang?
There’s just so many, so many small good ones! It’s hard to pick one, but I would definitely have to say our Bonanza trip to Miami. I had a blast and there’s photos (like the ones below) as proof.
The few days spent together were really amazing because I got to see the majority of the team in person; I got to see how they were really like and how smart they were. Being behind a computer and communicating with someone over Slack messages tells you how a person is, but being in person with them allows you to bond with them on a deeper level. I think that event really broke some barriers between the team – we’re more open with each other, and I understand the person behind the keys much better.
Q: Who inspires you?
There’s multiple people, but the person who sticks out to me most is my dad because of his work ethic. My dad worked two jobs: one that started at 4am and ended at noon, then the second started at 2pm and ended at 10:30pm Monday through Friday. He didn’t complain about it once. Every time he saw my family and my brothers, he was never in a bad mood –– he always enjoyed his time with us. Going through high school and college and seeing that made me admire him even more. Everyday, I use that to inspire me to work harder: I used to tell myself that if my dad is working, I’m working too. I used that to stay up or study when I didn’t want to, and that work ethic still carries with me to this day.
Q: At Boomerang, what product are you currently building?
Right now, I’m working with the team to find the best workflow for user experience on shipping and payment implementation. While we’re almost done, I didn’t know how difficult payment and shipping was until we implemented it because there are a lot of edge cases you have to look out for.
Honestly, I love to help people, and that’s why I’m at Boomerang. I believe our product does just that. If there’s anything that I could do that can help someone else even in the smallest manner, I’m 100% for it. I’ve always wanted to create new technologies that help people, so building this product at Boomerang really achieves that goal. Returning people’s lost items, especially if they’re very sentimental, helps them a lot. With Boomerang, we help people feel rest assured that their belongings are in safe hands and make their way back.
Q: Your worst Lost & Found story?
In elementary school, I loved Pokemon and had this cool Pokedex. After taking it to school for a show-and-tell, I realized I lost it as soon as I got home. I went to the front office the next day. Nothing. Still trying to find it to this day…
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At Boomerang, we can’t solve lost and found without our amazing people like Cesar who build innovative and impactful technology that allows us to help people get their items back, as seamlessly as possible. We’re so excited and proud to have him be a founding member of our engineering team.
If you’re looking to join a fast-paced and disruptive company, made up of kind, diverse, and whip-smart people who are working hard to solve a big problem, then Boomerang is the place for you. Come join us at https://thanksboomerang.com/careers!
Skyler Logsdon
CEO, Boomerang
