Backstage Intro - Meet Nate

[Luan]

Our Community Stars can be featured in Backstage Intros. To find out more about the Star Program click here.

Hi everyone! This month, we're happy to introduce you the newest member of our Star team: Nate aka @JBayudz!

Hi, Nate! First of all, welcome to the band! Could you tell a bit more about yourself?

Sure... I'm Jonathan P. Bayudang. My friends call me Nathan or Nate. I work in the BPO industry as a customer service lead / client experience specialist, with several years of experience leading teams, coaching reps, and using tools like CRM and salesforce to solve messy customer problems in a structured way. Outside of work, I'm usually tinkering with new tools, learning something online, listening to music, or just hanging out with communities I'm part of.

That’s cool, Nate! Since you enjoy being part of communities, what motivated you to move from 'just a listener' to an active member here? Also, what makes you feel you truly belong in an online space?

I think what pushed me from just 'listening' to actually participating was realizing that communities are way more meaningful when you contribute. I realized I could learn more and enjoy by actually engaging. I feel like I belong in a community when, in addition to having the opportunity to connect with others with similar interests, people are supportive, curious, and open to different perspectives. If the vibe is positive and I feel comfortable speaking up, that’s home for me.

Since you’re into tinkering with new tools and learning online, has that curiosity ever led you to find a 'hidden' Spotify feature or a specific way of organizing things that most people might miss? What’s your favorite Spotify feature lately?

Yeah, it's not exactly a 'hidden' feature, but I stumbled across Spotify for devs and thought it was really cool. I even registered an app to try integrating it into one of my Discord bots. There are still a lot of limitations on what a bot can actually do with the Spotify API, so I couldn't build everything I imagined. I'm hoping they open up even more functionality in the future.

Impressive! Not everyone dives into the API and Dev docs... Since you’ve seen 'under the hood' of Spotify, if you had the power to add just one specific functionality to the API for your bot or tools, what would it be? What’s the dream feature you’re waiting for?

I like that question, and that one thing I would add (if I could), is the ability to stream lossless music directly from Spotify libraries. I would implement it to require authentication and limit it to premium subscribers only. Coz right now, based on my understanding, Spotify only acts as a 'middleman' or something like that. The Discord bot pulls data such as the song title and artist, Spotify will then find the exact song somewhere else, and then render the song back to the Discord bot to play. Adding this feature would be really really great.

That’s a great technical take, Nate! Since we’ve gone pretty deep into the API and features, let’s switch gears to some quick-fire questions to get to know 'Nate' outside the dev world. To start, are you a coffee or tea person? Also, do you prefer working in total silence or with a background playlist, and would you say you’re more of a strictly organized playlists type of guy or do you just hit shuffle on your 'Liked Songs' and let it ride? Oh, and are you an early bird or a night owl?

1. Definitely a coffee person. Coffee for the win! ☕
2. I prefer working in silence, but when I have no control over the environment or what's going on around me, I plug in my headset and listen to music while working.
3. BOTH! I do let my 'liked songs' play in a shuffle most of the time, but I do have quite a few organized playlists too that I listen to some other time.
4. I'm a night owl, though I'm also an early bird as I manage to arrive early at work. 😁

A coffee-fueled early bird who’s actually a night owl... That’s the ultimate BPO survival mode! Since you mentioned you use your headset as a ‘shield’ to focus at work, what’s that one go-to album or artist that always helps you lock in and get things done? We’d love a recommendation to wrap this up!

I don't have any particular album or artist, I have quite a few playlists saved and this is my go-to list. Would definitely recommend this one.

Thanks for letting us a bit more about you! It was nice!

Thanks for sticking around! Stay tuned for the next Backstage Intro coming soon.

Our Community Stars can be featured on Backstage Intros. To find out more about the Star Program click here. 

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