How a Media Buyer Turned Engineer Adds Value to Tatari's Platform

At Tatari, building software from the perspective of the user is essential. In this post, we share Alex Kahan’s unusual path to becoming a Media Buying Platform (MBP) engineer, starting as a media buyer and following his passion for coding.

While working on the media buying team for several years, Alex became an expert on Tatari’s campaign manager (a powerful tool that empowers marketers to build performance-focused media plans using predictive intelligence). As a seasoned buyer, he worked with clients that used Tatari’s optional managed services such as Roman, Manscaped, and Fiverr often advising on brand and performance campaign strategies, premium opportunities on streaming and linear, sponsorships, and firesale opportunities.

Alex leveraged his extensive knowledge as a buyer and his longstanding interest in computer science (which he practiced on the side) to become a crucial bridge between the media buying and engineering teams, often suggesting key improvements to the platform. His efforts were instrumental in leading the automation of the post-log (written records of commercial airings) process.

To further support his passion for coding, Alex decided to leverage Tatari’s continued education benefit to enroll in Stanford’s computer science program, Code in Place. While learning about the fundamentals of programming in Python, Alex joined the Tatari Engineering team as an MBP intern and later transitioned to becoming a full-time engineer. “In software, you're often in a position where you have to place yourself in the shoes of a user to create a solution in a domain you're unfamiliar with. However, Alex has worn those shoes for years, and it's extremely valuable to have someone with that context and expertise directly embedded in our team that serves these users,” said Reno Brown, Director of Engineering for the Media Buying Platform.

This story is just one of several internal transfers that have taken place at Tatari. And is an example of how much Tatari values supporting our employees' education, curiosities, and interests. However, it’s about more than just a departmental switch and learning new skill sets. Alex’s story is truly a testament to the value Tatari places in building technology that prioritizes the user on the other side of the screen. By educating our engineering team on the user’s needs and desires first-hand, Tatari’s platform can become even more powerful and efficient in helping brands and agencies scale through TV advertising.