Life at OPENLANE: Q&A with Mike Uchman, Product Director
A 2022 Tech 25 winner, Mike Uchman came to OPENLANE as a Director of Product Engineering, and now, he leads several teams. Read more about his story below.
What has your journey at OPENLANE looked like?
Over a year ago, I came on as Director of Product Engineering. I originally started with the TradeRev marketplace with a focus on the back end. Just when I was finally getting a feel for the company acronyms and org structure, an opportunity came up to transition to the autoniq brand and work with our shared services group. Now, I’ve taken over a few additional teams. My org has grown, and that has allowed me to have a bird’s eye view of everything. I get to touch a lot of domains and business units at OPENLANE. It also means I have had a ton of first days, so this job has definitely kept me on my toes.
What is something you are most proud of during your time at OPENLANE?
Helping engineering teams see what they do well and what they can improve upon. Some things I’ve been working on are guiding teams in building higher-quality code and developing/deploying systems more confidently. Most of all I am proud of the relationships I’ve built here. I feel like I’ve represented my teams well and I have the trust and respect of others in the organization.
The people that I work closely with. The people make the place, you know? They make work a lot more fun.
What is your favorite aspect of technology?
How it is intangible but creates tangible solutions and drives a business forward.
What’s a piece of advice for newcomers?
Getting your footing in a large company may seem overwhelming. A thing I did that helped was study the entire org structure. Prior to a meeting, I would look at the chart and get an idea of what the other person did and where they fit in. I would set up individual meetings and get to know my teammates just to sync up and get to know them a little bit. So, get to know as many people as you possibly can.
Who are three people you’d have on your zombie apocalypse team?
My wife, son and definitely Superman.