Andrew Laytin
Name: Andrew Laytin
Current Job: Chief Technology Officer at FormFire, LLC.
Favorite Restaurant In Town: My favorite restaurant in Cleveland is the Rib Cage on Lee Road in Cleveland Heights. For the past five years each month a group of friends and I have dined at this locally owned and operated restaurant to argue over politics, culture and sports. From the smoked wings to the beef brisket and the ribs, everything on the menu is fantastic.
Favorite thing about Cleveland: Coming from Chicago where traffic is heavy, tickets to any event are hard to find and parking spots are sometimes even harder my favorite thing about Cleveland is the accessibility. In our eight years in Cleveland I feel we have taken advantage of so much that Cleveland has had to offer, and we did not have to put up with an hour commute or circling for parking. From the free Cleveland Institute of Art, Wade Oval Wednesday, Hamilton, Cleveland Orchestra Family Concerts, minor league games with the kids to major league and even World Series games for the adults we have been able to do so many activities that have enriched our kids’ lives. Cleveland has so much to offer and it is all right at your fingertips.
Q: One of your roles at FormFire as well as your previous employer, University Hospitals, is deciding between building an application internally vs. outsourcing. Can you explain your decision-making process? In both University Hospitals and FormFire, I was challenged with the decision to insource or outsource, first with a greenfield build of a mobile application and second with a re-architecture and rebuild of a flagship application. To make the decision, I reviewed the long-term funding sources and determined that adding significant full-time headcount was not an option. However, utilizing only outsourced resources would leave the organization vulnerable and dependent on outside organizations. Further, ensuring the full-time developers had meaningful work on new technology was imperative. Therefore, in both cases, I decided to utilize a hybrid approach. Organizing the internal team to be responsible for the overall architecture of the application, large scale business rule engines and third-party integrations, allowed the organization to retain critical knowledge and provided full-time employees the opportunity for technical advancement. Utilizing the outsourced organization to develop the front-end web application and integrate with internal services and basic business rules expedited the development of the applications. Applying the hybrid approach allows the organization to retain the business knowledge of the application, provides meaningful career-expanding work for the internal team and relies on outsourced resources for build velocity.
Q: Before you lived in Cleveland, you lived in Chicago. What were the differences between the Cleveland and Chicago tech scene? The biggest differences between Cleveland and Chicago are size, technical diversity and entrepreneurial zeal. Due to Chicago’s size there are more employers, and with more employers comes a larger pool of technologist. With this breadth of organizations, there is going to be a more diverse group of technologists and more individuals who fit the needs of an open position. Another difference I noticed is that Cleveland seems to be a Microsoft-centric city. With some notable exceptions, most organizations utilize variations of .NET and other Microsoft technology. Chicago has multiple large organizations using technologies ranging from open source to COBOL. While I left Chicago eight years ago, I did not see the same passion for entrepreneurship there as I see in Cleveland today. Cleveland technologists not only want to make Cleveland better; they want to make the world better. Aligned with two world class hospital systems, Cleveland is on the cutting edge of revolutionary advancements in the medical technology field.
Q: Despite being in a senior management role, you still know how to code. Why is it important for technical managers to stay current on their coding skills? During interviews with new candidates, I always tell them I am technical enough to be dangerous. However, I know the last thing the development team wants to see is me coding. While the quality assurance team is empowered, assigning a defect to the CTO is not always comfortable. As a CTO, I make difficult far-reaching architectural decisions that will shape FormFire’s technical footprint for years. These decisions have many implications, including cost, resources, security, scalability, maintainability and flexibility. Retaining my knowledge in coding allows me to have a deep understanding of the architectural benefits of the decisions, along with the foresight of the decision’s impact across budgets, people and processes. Utilizing my technical skills during the decision-making process allows me to ensure FormFire continues to be on the leading edge of technology while retaining the cost, process and security controls necessary for future growth.
Q: How has FormFire adjusted to COVID? From a technology perspective, FormFire was able to quickly provide employees full-time work from home within days of the global realization of the COVID-19 pandemic. The largest challenge was moving our onsite Client Support Center, which is a significant differentiator and competitive advantage for us in the marketplace. This was made easier because we migrated to a cloud-based Customer Support Software with softphones allowing our client services advisors to take calls and provide support from anywhere. An effort was put in place to test each individual's Wi-Fi to ensure employees had the appropriate bandwidth. From an organizational perspective, collaborating and socializing are major values. Without being asked or encouraged, every employee organically started utilizing their webcams for all meetings in order to feel connected. We have instituted weekly all-company townhalls (video encouraged) to keep everyone informed, as well as monthly virtual happy hours with trivia and other fun virtual activities (Hawaiian shirt day, crazy hat day, etc.) to continue to keep the fun culture. While we all long for getting back to the office, I am proud of the way FormFire has adjusted seamlessly to the new working style.
Q: FormFire is a forward-thinking technology organization using a lot of modern technologies. Ironically, one of the struggles you have is finding engineers who are up to date with these frameworks. What can Cleveland do to recruit more experienced engineers? How do you adjust your recruiting needs for the Cleveland market? Cleveland has a base of up and coming technologists who have a passion to learn, grow and use the latest technology. However, some are not given the opportunity to learn new technology due to the projects they are assigned or the objectives of their employer. Throughout my career, I have hired individuals who check all the boxes and can come in, put on their headphones and build applications. I have also hired individuals who are hungry to learn, hungry to prove themselves, and are willing to align to an organization that believes in them. Through numerous hires, I have found that hiring mission-driven individuals instead of mercenary-driven individuals results in the most passionate and productive employees. I focus on technologists who understand the customer, the business, the organization’s goals, and who have the opportunity to expand their skillset in a direction that provides career advancement. Not everyone in Cleveland has all the modern technology experience, but that can be taught. Demonstrating a passion for excellence and improving their organization through a career (short or long) cannot be taught, and FormFire searches for those individuals.