Roshawn Rochester

“I've gone back and forth over how to write this recommendation. The voice in my head has told me to re-write it in a “more professional and believable" fashion, but after thinking it over, I just can't bring myself to do that, because every time I’ve tried to re-write it like that it just simply didn’t convey how high in regard I truly hold Roshawn. As such, while understanding that I risk sounding exaggerated, here’s what I think you should know about Roshawn: For anyone considering working under Roshawn's management: - Roshawn will push you to do better, but not like you're used to. When we were given a difficult data task that our team didn't know how to complete, Roshawn immediately volunteered to brute force it over the weekend in Excel to take it off our plate. His simple willingness to do that pushed me to learn Office Scripts for Excel and automate the solution. - Roshawn will shield you from the vast majority of "corporate silliness". Roshawn has on multiple occasions gone to bat for my team to push back on unnecessary standups, ad-hoc requests, and ill-advised KPIs. - When you're working under Roshawn, you will never feel like a "Number" or a "Resource". When my SO gets sick, pet has to go to the vet, etc. Roshawn makes clear that taking care of them takes priority. When I thanked him and made a joke about how some of my previous managers would drive a laptop to my death bed to get me working again, his (lightly paraphrased) reply was the following: "LOL, that is not how I roll. I will never expect anything that I wouldn't want expected of me :)" For anyone considering hiring Roshawn to a management position: - Roshawn’s leadership style gets results. He ensures he understands the actual end-goal, then largely lets his engineers produce a plan that they’re excited about, only providing gentle guidance to ensure that the plan lines up with the request’s various requirements. - Roshawn’s communication skills supercharge his abilities. It’s one thing to communicate “effectively”, but it’s another thing to see Roshawn diffuse tense situations and dramatically improve outcomes by gaining trust over a single Zoom call. - Roshawn excels at putting together a team. I didn’t realize until I was in my role just how balanced both in technical skills and personalities my team is, and how much that contributes to our combined output. As mentioned, this recommendation might come off as “superfluous” in its positivity, but I trust that if you’ve read through to this point, you understand that I’m speaking truthfully from my own observed experiences. Because LinkedIn’s character limit is fast approaching, let me leave you with a closing thought that sums up my opinion of Roshawn: While I’m not sure entirely what my career’s future holds, I’ll likely never find myself in a role where I don’t think Roshawn could add an outsized value.”