Sean Melody - Senior Architect and Chief Technologist #91
Sean Melody has held a variety of roles across a several companies since he started his career almost 20 years ago. He’s been an engineer, architect, team lead, dev manager, CTO, and now works for a small company as a Chief Technologist where he focuses on bringing new products to market in the automotive space. He does product development, especially with web front ends, and has done various back end and mobile projects throughout his career. He’s passionate about mentoring young and old, technical and non technical folks alike. Sean is an extrovert in a world of introverts and loves building things which is why he keeps finding himself close to the code, while still thinking about business and product concerns so that he can advise C level executives.
Sean is an avid gardener and loves being outdoors with his family. He turned his passion for trivia and “fun facts” into an appearance on Jeopardy in 2019. Sean serves as volunteer Care Pantry Director for a local food pantry. He holds a BS in Computer Science from Northwestern University and is a big supporter of the Wildcats.
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A note from Grant
Sean Melody is a self-described extrovert who loves building products and staying close to the code even while taking on technical leadership roles at a number of companies. Throughout the course of his 20 year career, Sean Melody has held titles like software engineer, architect, team lead, engineering manager and CTO. Along his path, he’s worked for companies like RSA, Wireless Generation, now called Amplify Education and Rally Software which is a part of CA Technologies.
These days, Sean is the Chief Technologist of Trade Pending, a company focused in the automotive space. Stay tuned as we catch up with Sean Melody and hear how this Northwestern University Wildcat has built a career at the intersection of product development and technical leadership.
-Grant Ingersoll
Quotes
“We were tasked to build the final size of the organization, like 120 people, very rapidly. Within 3 to 4 months we had to hire all of these people across 3 locations and bootstrap everything.” (originally by Katie Thompson of Rally)
“We were tasked to build the final size of the organization, like 120 people, very rapidly. Within 3 to 4 months we had to hire all of these people across 3 locations and bootstrap everything.”
“When you’re the son of teachers, there’s definitely this environment where you’re always learning something.”
—Sean Melody
Key Milestones
- Sean was a guest on Jeopardy! What was your experience like?
- What inspired Sean to get into tech?
- The eternal question for many engineers often centers around deciding to go into management. How did Sean approach that question and what was his first engineering management job like?
- What is the role of a senior architect?
- Sean has also held very senior technical roles over the years, with titles like architect and principal software engineer. What are some of the key skills that you had to develop to function in those roles?
Additional Resources
Connect with Sean Melody
LinkedIn
