Meet Anoop Gantayat, the latest addition to our engineering staff. Having lived and worked in Japan running his own business, he offers a global perspective to our offerings. We are excited to work with Anoop as he brings his expertise to our front and backend programming needs with a dash of humor that keeps the office smiling.
What were you doing prior to joining Socialtext?
I was running a video game news site that I started around 2007 while I was living in Tokyo. I continued running it when I moved back to America in 2009. While the site had a relatively big audience, it was missing the business connection. One of the nice things about being at Socialtext is that I get to expand my understanding of web development to include business areas like marketing, management and sales.
What will you be doing for Socialtext?
Programming. I’m doing both frontend and backend work. As I was previously running my site on my own, I was used to working on both ends, so I’m happy that I get to continue doing that here. I have to admit that I’m a somewhat new to working in a collaborative situation and also a bit unfamiliar with coming into an office to work, but I seem to be adjusting quite well and enjoying it.
What are 3 words you would use to describe yourself?
Astronaut, Guitarist, Professionalbaseballplayer (Disclaimer: I don’t actually play the guitar, and I’m pretty sure I’d freak out if someone threw anything at me at 90 miles per hour).
What do you do in your free time?
A mix of astrophotography, watching movies, playing with my nephew and reading — the latter mostly because I love going to coffee shops and looking at people. Note that my free time does not include playing video games. Even though I made a video game website, I haven’t played a video game in about 10 years. Now that I’m not running my website, I’m okay with letting people know this.
What’s has been the most fun moment working for Socialtext so far?
I loved going out for dinner with the team early on. This may seem like a basic thing, but having worked by myself for about a decade, it was nice being able to hang out with coworkers. As we grow, I hope we eventually end up taking the entire floor of the Cheesecake Factory down the street for our company dinners.
