Successful Berklee Alumni #74: Bob DeVaughn

Bob Devaughn

Listen to the interview (approx. 40 min.) or download it.

 

Graduated in 2008 with a major in Music Business.  Principal Instrument:  guitar.

 

Position:  Full Stack Software Developer at Legendary Entertainment.  Bob works for a “business within a business” working for a branch of the major move studio that does data storage and implements data analysis tools for businesses, movie studios, sports, etc.  Bob takes on the role of system administrator, configuring their systems property, but he also writes computer code and supports the analysts.

 

Overview:  Prior to Berklee, Bob went to a magnet high school for computer science, and briefly studied computer science at the University of Maryland before transferring to Berklee.  Bob’s required internship was with Sonicbids, and they wanted him to help with the technical side.  As his internship ended and he graduated Sonicbids offered him a job doing software QA (Quality Assurance), where he worked for two years before moving back to Maryland to get married.  In Maryland, he co-founded a company to build websites for businesses, though he found the work a bit repetitive, so after a year he took a job with another startup as a product manager, then in mid-2013 as a project manager at a mid-size marketing agency after that startup failed.

In early 2014, Bob’s former boss from Sonicbids, now at Legendary Entertainment, reached out to him–he was building a team and wanted Bob on it…as a programmer!  Bob moved up to Boston and spent a lot of time figuring out computer code.  He has been successful and at that job ever since.

 

You can see Bob’s LinkedIn profile here.

 

Choice Quotes:  “Software engineering is so logical.  There’s an abundance of resources that put it all out for you, and if you spend the time to find them you’ll get the answer.”

“I work with most of the smartest people I’ve ever known.   I’m lucky to be on the team!”

“Keep an open mind.  Don’t feel that because your background is in music, you can’t learn something else.  You have time to master many things in your life.”

“Someone can explain harmony to you and tell you how  to play an instrument, but to acquire the ability you have to practice yourself and undertake that learning practice yourself.  It forces you to learn how to learn, and to discipline yourself to practice and go further.  Berklee is where I learned how to learn for myself.

 

 

See the full index of Successful Berklee Grads.