Hey everyone 👋
I’m back at it again and have another member of the Drift team that I want you to meet.
So far you have met Mary Mitchell, Catherine LaMacchia, Nadine Shaalan, Kahlil Trocmé, Britnee Laughlin, Sam Boyd, and Allison Betito.
In this edition of Inside Drift, we would like you to meet Carolina Caprile. Carolina is a Natural Language Processing (NLP Engineer) on our product team. Originally from Argentina, Carolina joined the Drift team shortly after completing her master’s degree in the United States. Around the Boston office, she is known for her great stories and enthusiasm – she’s always cheering on her teammates.
Ready to meet Carolina? Let’s go ⚡
Editor’s note: The following has been edited and condensed for clarity.
Kaitlyn Martins: First, can you tell me a little bit about what you do here at Drift?
Carolina Caprile: At Drift, I work as an NLP Engineer on the Automation team – more specifically the Classifier team. We make sure that our bots understand and accurately interpret user inputs. We also work on making sure our bots understand languages other than English.
Kaitlyn: How did you decide to get into engineering?
Carolina: Before getting into engineering I worked as a language analyst at a social listening startup back in Argentina. The developers started reaching out to me to get a linguistic opinion on their work, and I was intrigued. That’s around the time when I decided to apply to a master’s program here in the U.S. to broaden my skill set and learn more about engineering and coding.
Kaitlyn: What drew you to Drift?
Carolina: One of the things I value the most is the human factor and the supportive environment. From the start, I got a good vibe that Drift truly cared about people and building interpersonal relationships. It’s all about the people you work with. During my interview, I really connected with my now manager, which was exciting. As I was leaving that same interview we ran into Elias Torres (Drift’s co-founder & CTO). Learning he was Latino was a big deal for me. Right away, Elias started introducing me to all the Latino people on the 7th floor of the office. They were actually hosting a get together after work that night and he was very insistent that I come. The party was an immediate sell. I felt as if I had found exactly what I was looking for – I found a place where I felt like I really belonged.
Regarding my professional aspirations, Drift works with cutting edge technology which was really important to me. The people who work at Drift are also so talented. It’s incredible to be exposed to, work alongside, and learn from experts in the industry ?
Kaitlyn: Before working at Drift, what was the most unusual or interesting job you’ve ever had?
Carolina: The most interesting job I had before getting into tech was teaching Spanish to foreigners back in Argentina. I was teaching exchange students both inside and outside of the classroom. Mostly it was Europeans and Americans, some from China, Turkey, Russia, and Brazil. It was a super enriching experience, that diversity of cultures makes you think about your world and what a big, wonderful place it is.
Kaitlyn: What’s a fun fact about you that might surprise people?
Carolina: Before moving to the U.S. I did stand-up comedy ? I even performed at the equivalent of Broadway back in Argentina and got paid for a bunch of shows. My material is very funny in the Argentinian context but I still do it casually in my spare time. I take improv classes here in the U.S. and just did a stand-up comedy course. I was encouraged to get into it by my friends because I seem to have a natural storytelling ability…I don’t do it intentionally, but it’s a lot of fun.
Kaitlyn: How do you balance your career and personal life at Drift?
Carolina: I like to keep a routine in my schedule. I go full speed from 9-5 (or longer if needed), but beyond that, I like to use my spare time for personal activities. My team at Drift is super flexible and we all respect that we have lives outside of the office.
Kaitlyn: How has Drift helped you in your career development?
Carolina: Drift has helped me develop in many ways, particularly thanks to the level of work that we’re doing. From coding to collaborating in a huge repository with other developers, to working in collaboration in the same code and also understanding the context of coding in a larger setting, it’s been a very exciting ride. I’ve learned so much. Before Drift, I had coded at school and other internships, but they were smaller projects that did not interact with this huge context of code.
The cherry on top of that is I’ve also developed more confidence in my work and my skills ?
Kaitlyn: Have you picked up any fun hobbies or discovered any hidden talents during quarantine?
Carolina: I actually did pick up some artistic hobbies during the quarantine. I’ve explored different forms of art, from stamp carving, acrylic painting, and even making a tabletop out of epoxy resin! This was a bit of a challenge because it involved some woodworking ( which I had no experience in at all), but I just followed some YouTube videos and the tabletop was a success.
Kaitlyn: What advice do you have for prospective Drift candidates?
Carolina: Don’t judge yourself on skills you think you’re lacking. Drift gives you the opportunity to learn. I came from a literature/linguistic background and this was my first FT technical role. I’ve certainly faced many challenges, but I still can’t believe all that I’ve learned in my short time at Drift.
And lastly, just be your authentic self. If Drift is the place for you, you’ll know (and we will too ?).
Want to join Carolina on Drift’s engineering team? We’re hiring. Check out our open roles here.
