EPeeps Matt Madigan | Senior Software Engineer

Hey everyone! My name is Matt, and I’m a Senior Software Engineer at Education Perfect. I’m based in Dunedin, where I live with my amazing wife Emma and our gorgeous daughter Sophie.

I’ve been working at EP since the end of 2016 and have really enjoyed watching the company’s impact grow further and further. On my way to getting into a software development career, I studied at the University of Otago, earning a Bachelor of Science majoring in Computer Science. 

Beyond work, one of my other passions is music. I listen to music all the time, play the guitar, and dabble in some other instruments. Some of my favourite bands include Black Sabbath and Iron Maiden.

Why become an EPeep?

My story of becoming an EPeep was an interesting one. My friend, Alex Poulin, had been working at EP for a while and one day told me to come around and check out the place. Kindly, what he forgot to mention was that he had set me up for a spontaneous interview with the co-founder, Shane Smith. At that point, I wasn’t quite ready for the change, but the interest in EP always stayed with me. Not long later, things had changed, so I emailed Shane asking if there were any opportunities available. Between that first email and my first day, I learned how fast and exciting EP truly is.

It was only a week later that I had my first day, and hit the ground running. By the end of my first week, there we were deploying my first small feature to production. It was really exciting to see how quickly the company loved to act on opportunities and improve things for teachers and students. This is what makes being an EPeep great!

What do you enjoy most about your role?

Working as a Software Engineer at EP is really exciting as there are a lot of cool initiatives that are happening here. There are always interesting product changes happening, and our setup means we can hear feedback about the work we do directly from the schools that use it.

There are also some large technical initiatives going on that present some unique challenges to solve where the opportunity just does not exist at other companies. The team here are also amazing to work with, so getting to work on these challenges is a really exciting experience.

Where is somewhere you’d like to visit?

I’m very keen to visit Japan in the future. The idea of visiting big cities that aren’t so influenced by western culture seems exciting. Also, the challenge of immersing myself in a non-English speaking environment would be a first for me, but I would love to extend my very primitive knowledge of Japanese. 

What advice would you pass on to a younger version of yourself?

I would tell myself to jump at any opportunity that comes. It’s too easy to carry on the usual path and to pass up on opportunities. Say yes when you can and see what new places life can take you. It can be very exciting! I’ve been trying to live by this over the last few years. One of my most memorable experiences was recently being invited to a house party with friends in Australia, and deciding: why not and spending an exciting weekend with friends?

Any last words you would like to share?

Work hard to do what you love! Working in software development is something I had always wanted, making every day easy to enjoy. Then look at how you can do what you love and make a positive impact. Being able to develop software to improve education for the next generation is something very special, that I’ll enjoy doing every day. Even when things are challenging, you can always step back and look at what we’re providing for schools, and it makes it all worth it. Finding meaningful work in a career you love is something that everyone should hope to achieve, you’ll end every day happy!