Hunter Goodson is Chief Technology Officer at Drover Rideshare. The following is in his words.
I’ve been fascinated with machines and electronics as far back as I can remember. I was always curious as to how and why they worked. In elementary school I would tear down old electronics and household items in an attempt to better understand their functions. I remember in fifth grade when they would bring out a television and the instructor would struggle in trying to get the video to play. After trying to fix it herself, she invited the class to attempt to get the video to play. After about twenty minutes of students trying to fix it, I decided to see if I could fix it. Within less than a minute I managed to get the video to play. At the time I was interested in making films. However, as time passed and I worked with more and more complex equipment; I realized that my interest was in the equipment itself as opposed to the films it made.
In middle school, I got into PC gaming. At times, the computer would give me various issues; but because of my desire to keep playing games, I learned how to maintain my own machine. Eventually I became competent enough to where I was fixing computers for my friends and family on a regular basis. In seventh grade, I decided I was going to pursue the engineering field, but I wasn’t sure which field I specifically wanted to be in. I decided on this based on my interest in technology and my cousin and grandfather being in engineering fields.
In high school, I joined a robotics team. There were 3 options for students to participate in: design, machining and programming. I chose programming not out of an explicit interest, but because I was the only one willing to learn how to program.
When I was 18, I ran a small business doing freelance computer repair and CAD work. Going into college, I was uncertain what field of engineering I was going to pursue. The only thing I was certain of is that I wanted to have some level of proficiency in computer science. However, I did not want to dedicate myself to it exclusively. I had narrowed it down to four fields: Mechanical, Electrical, Biomedical and Computer. After my first semester I had decided that Mechanical and Biomedical were out of the question due to a lack of interest in Chemistry and Thermodynamics. Choosing between Electrical and Computer was difficult for me as they’re extremely close fields of study. I eventually narrowed it down to Computer Engineering because I had so many programming classes under my belt. My academic focus eventually narrowed down to embedded systems and microcontrollers. But my knowledge of programming ended up being my most versatile tool.
In April of 2016, I had received two job offers for the summer. The first job was an IT coop that would’ve gone for 14 months and force me to take off from school. The second option was from a guy who texted me about his business idea for an upscale ridesharing service. I went with the latter because I saw potential in this idea and I didn’t want to take off of school. I went into this job with little to no expectations. Since then, I’ve only further assured myself that I made the right decision coming to Drover. Since then, I’ve climbed my way up the ladder from Support Programmer, to IT Manager, to Chief Technological Officer for Drover. I’ve watched the business grow firsthand from an idea to a fully functional product. I’m proud to say that I’m a part of that. I believe that in coming years, Drover will become a force to be reckoned with in the rideshare industry.
