Summary
Meet Software Developer Brock Hayes! This United Systems employee of nearly seven years shares why he takes great pride in the products he helps create for our customers.
Employee Spotlight: Brock Hayes
There’s a good chance your perception of IT people is way off.
“Somebody sitting in a room alone, looking at a computer,” United Systems developer Brock Hayes says.
“That’s been the total opposite of my experience. At the end of the day, you have to communicate, not only within your own department, but between departments.”
CAPTION Brock Hayes (top row-middle, blue
shirt) poses with fellow USS employees during
his internship in 2020.
He’d know, after nearly seven years with the company. Brock started at USS as an intern in 2020, before graduating six months later with a Bachelor of Science in Business, Computer and Information Systems Security/Information Assurance.
“I’ve pivoted and done networking, and now I do programming, so I’m familiar with both sides of the equation,” says Brock. “I see the usefulness of just about everything I work on.”
Currently, that includes our next-generation UPM software. In his time here, not only has that product evolved, so has the way USS makes it. Brock points to the creation of a pipeline for customers to provide feedback as a game changer for the development team.
“It’s so much better now because we can see the feedback: how is the customer reacting to this? Before, there was a lot of back and forth, and it wasn’t always clear whether the customer liked what we did,” Brock explains. “We have product managers [now] reaching out to customers, or people in Support working on a customer project who can give us feedback.”
CAPTION: Brock as Neo of "The Matrix" movies
during our 2024 Halloween costume contest!
USS software also continually evolves. That’s instead of developers working on it for a long period of time and releasing lots of changes at once. Brock says the result is better for current customers.
“It’s all about mindset. We try to keep making the software as simple as possible. It needs to be very clear; people shouldn’t have to guess what an option does or how something works.”
That’s a mindset Brock embraces, as does the team around him. It’s made it easy to enjoy not only the work, but the people he works with.
Collecting older game consoles and electronics is one of those—he shares that love with a former Employee Spotlight subject, Jonathan Vinson! (Check out his spotlight here.) They’re two of several employees with the company (me, too) who enjoy the nostalgia of older systems.
He’s also helped make several internal USS events… immersive. He dressed up as Neo from The Matrix in 2024, the perfect Halloween costume for a developer!
Another common point with many of his co-workers: Brock is a Marshall County, Kentucky, native and Murray State University graduate! His parents still live in west Kentucky, and he’s the oldest of three siblings.
Speaking of which, Brock recently took a big trip with one of them.
“I’d been wanting to go to Japan for a while, and I went with my brother and his wife last year. We spent two weeks there,” he says. “There are a lot of notable differences. People are very much go-about-your-day. In restaurants, everything’s ordered through an iPad interface, so there isn’t really direct conversation with the waiter like you’d normally have.”
This won’t be his last trip. Brock wants traveling to be a significant part of his life.
“My next big international trip is Ireland. I think it’d be really cool to stay a night in one of the castles and experience the nature there!”
As for his professional future? Development is absolutely part of it. He plans for United Systems to be, too!
“I pretty much see myself here for the long term,” Brock says.
We’re glad to hear it, Brock. Thanks for your continued contributions to the development of United Systems’ products and your commitment to improving our customers’ experience!
CAPTION: Brock poses with the Nintendo
character Kirby on a visit to Japan last year
with his brother.
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