Dylan Dreyer is a Software Engineer on our Asgard (Cloud Cluster) team which enables our CDM software stack to be run in the cloud and develops the various features needed to support this platform. His tenacity keeps him from shying away from a challenge and has led him to grow quickly in his career. We’re fortunate to have Dylan as a key collaborator on our team! Now let’s get to learn more about him.
You started your career at Rubrik over three years ago. What keeps you here?
I’ve really enjoyed my time at Rubrik for several reasons. I’ve been able to see my work make a direct impact on Rubrik’s customers. In the process, I’ve been able to work with many talented individuals across several areas of the company and work on various projects across our products and tech stack, continually fueling my learning and growth.
At the same time, it’s been an exciting journey seeing the cybersecurity landscape evolve and change, and how Rubrik has positioned itself to address the market with our pioneering Zero Trust Data Security™ platform, Rubrik Security Cloud. I felt like the company navigated the uncertain times brought about by the COVID-19 pandemic by staying true to our RIVET values by optimizing our focus while providing transparency on how external factors were affecting the business. To sum it up, it’s been an exciting and rewarding time at Rubrik these past few years.
What has been the most interesting project you’ve worked on at Rubrik?
I’ve had the chance to work from start to finish on a new re-architected version of our Cloud Cluster that protects VMs, databases, files, etc. on the cloud, called Cloud Cluster - Elastic Storage. I got to work with a tight-knit group of people across multiple business units to take this product from idea to reality, and it has been a rewarding experience to see our work make a direct customer impact.
This project allowed me the opportunity to be the point person from our team and lead the development of certain facets of the project. The product has greatly increased in traction since being released and has opened the doors to many future advancements we can make to our public cloud protection experience for customers.
You’ve conducted a lot of technical interviews for our Engineering team. What is your number one tip for candidates?
The number one tip I would give candidates is just to be themselves. If there is one thing that I’ve learned in my first few years at Rubrik, it is that there are many facets to being a productive software engineer. There are multiple ways to go about the job and excel, so consequently, I approach interviews with a holistic viewpoint in mind.
Interviews are less about being right or wrong as they are a chance to explore someone’s skill set and better understand their career goals. The best interviews I have been a part of are when a candidate is able to show up authentically while we explore their competence for the job together. Ultimately, the number one takeaway I’m looking for in an interview is what a candidate will add to our team that we don’t already have; be it niche skillsets, industry experience, and/or diverse perspectives.
As someone who has mentored new hires on your team, how do you ensure that they have a good onboarding experience?
I think there are a few aspects to a good onboarding experience. The first is being a mentor that makes themselves available, to connect both personally and professionally, as well as provide any help and have any discussion on any topic as a new hire is onboarded. The second is to enable the new hire to drive their onboarding journey, by providing direction but not overseeing every task. The third is a little bit of a twist, which is to get as much feedback as possible from the new hire on the onboarding experience itself.
New hires are in the best position to provide meaningful feedback on what went well and what didn’t because they are actually the ones experiencing the process in real-time. I feel these are important aspects to helping someone ramp up because it allows for the onboarding process to be more of a group journey for both mentor and new hire.
Which RIVET Value resonates with you the most?
Relentlessness is a core value that I try to adhere to in my work. As a software engineer, there are a lot of twists and turns, successes and challenges, that come with the job. I don’t think anyone can say that they’ve never introduced a bug into the code they’ve written. So I believe it is important to approach the job with a mindset to accept mistakes when they happen and to continually improve and strive to be better from these experiences. I believe this relentless mindset applies to many different facets of life, and hence why it resonates with me the most from Rubrik’s core values.
Rapid Fire Questions
First job?
First full-time job? Rubrik. Before joining Rubrik, I did a couple of internships at Arista Networks, where I got to dabble in various work across the tech stack.
Favorite hobby?
This changes over time for me, but right now it is tennis. I’ve started playing again after taking a long break (8 years or so).
Favorite movie?
I’d have to go with the classic Godfather trilogy. If I had to pick one of the three, it would be Godfather 2.
Last vacation?
I recently visited French Polynesia. I’ve never seen water more clear and light blue in my life!
Bucket list item?
Visiting every national park. It’s a work in progress, but I’d guess I’m at least halfway there.
Interested in innovating and advancing the Zero Trust Data Security platform? Take a look at our open positions on our engineering team here.