You know how email addresses and user IDs often default to someone’s first initial and last name? Sometimes it creates a nickname that just sticks.
In Thomas Ellsworth’s case, wow, has it ever stuck. Probably because “Tellsworth” is such a character, and also the embodiment of character.
Tellsworth is an Engineering Manager who leads the Shared Services team, the glue that connects all sorts of data to our user interfaces and external clients. They handle “big-job processing” to cull savings opportunities from pharmacy claims and generally keep all things running behind the scenes.
His favorite part? “The constant drive for improvement and the speed at which we’re able to make changes as a team,” he said. “It’s a ton of fun collaborating with a small group of really smart people, watching an idea grow and change in the course of a few minutes, and turn into something better than I ever could have come up with on my own.”
Few of us can ever come up with better questions at all-company meetings (a Tellsworth trademark), or costumes for Halloween—or any random day.
Jedi knight, cowboy, wizard or other assorted sorcerers…You never know what he’ll show up as next, with or without footwear. What we always know is that he can turn from sarcastic to serious on a dime.
Tellsworth recently celebrated 3 years with the company, a tenure that qualifies as ancient around here.
“The biggest change I’ve noticed is how seriously we take our product, which may sound silly because it’s been taken very seriously since its inception. What I’m talking about is the way we’ve really strapped down on procedure and security,” he said. “We have so many great processes in place now to keep our product and development running and stable, and also to organize a team that is five times the size it was back then.”
All of which take on greater importance all the time, especially with the team’s current conversion to a remote workplace. What has he missed most while working from home?
“My wife’s sanity! Personally, I don’t think quarantine is that bad. Being forced to live in a dark hole away from the burdens of society, with a computer and some hot tea is usually my preferred lifestyle. But my wife has pretty much lost it at this point.”
More About Tellsworth:
What three traits describe you best?
Fun. Loud. Computers.
What is your dream job?
Maintaining highly successful one-man websites about topics that I love—Christianity, programming/computing, leatherworking, saltwater aquariums, tea.
What’s something most people don’t know about you?
I often write (unpublished) fantasy novels with my wife. By now, we’ve written at least a dozen over 300 pages each. A few have been well over a couple thousand.
What has been the most interesting part of working in quarantine?
Having my cat, dogs, child, wife being highly distracting and doing my best to pretend like I’m very focused on what’s going on in the call.
What are you looking forward to most when returning to the office?
Coffee.
If you could travel anywhere in the world, where would it be and why?
Japan. I went there roughly 3 months ago and absolutely loved it. I could go on for quite some time about how much I enjoy the culture, food, geography, music, anime…I would go back in a heartbeat and fully intend to in the future.
