An Interview with Jason Squatrito and Dan Pickett on ezPrep Kitchen

Why climb the career ladder when you can advance on a rocket? If you’re starting a career in software engineering, and you want to take a fast track to promotions and higher-paying jobs, let us help. At ezCater, we know that engineers fresh out of school are trying to get a start on their careers. So we joined forces with the educational institution Launch Academy to create a coding boot camp for our junior engineers.

This spring, we’ll hire a small class of Associate Software Engineers with diverse backgrounds, from recent grads to senior-level job seekers. Then we’ll invest in them professionally by covering their full tuition for a coding boot camp, called ezPrep Kitchen, run by Launch Academy. ezPrep Kitchen trains junior engineers to learn real-world programming skills using the newest technologies. The program is a great way for engineers to master in-demand skills and build an awesome professional portfolio. Our new class of ezPrep Kitchen recruits will train at our on-site boot camp before transitioning to their engineering roles at ezCater’s Boston office.

The ezPrep Kitchen program starts on July 15. Each ezPrep Kitchen recruit will get:

• A full-time engineering job working at the ezCater office in Boston
• A competitive full-time salary starting from Day 1
• Employee benefits including health insurance, retirement benefits, and all-you-can-eat vacation
• Perks such as free meals, plenty of snacks, and access to ezCater activities such as ezHour mixers
• A full tuition waiver for a six- to eight-week training program run by Launch Academy, worth $17,500

To learn more about the ezPrep Kitchen program and working at ezCater, we spoke with Jason Squatrito, ezCater’s VP of Engineering, and Dan Pickett, Co-Founder of Boston’s Launch Academy. Here’s our interview with Jason and Dan:

ezCater: Many computer science graduates probably have had summer internships or jobs. But the ezPrep Kitchen program is different. Can you explain how it’s different and what it’s like working at ezCater?

Dan Pickett: Well, ezCater is meaningfully investing in the professional development of its junior engineers with this program. Unlike internships, ezPrep Kitchen provides structured education and opportunities to build real products with modern technologies.   

In class, participants will work collaboratively with their peers and instructors in a low-pressure environment. It’s low pressure because students will build real products, but not ezCater products. This allows participants to try new things without putting ezCater, or their own jobs, at risk. When students learn through experimentation, without fear of consequences, they can sharpen their talents and realize their full potential quickly.

Jason Squatrito: Another difference between ezPrep Kitchen and the other career opportunities you mentioned is in how we treat our employees at ezCater. We don’t devalue college grads or co-op students. You hear so many horror stories of junior recruits being put in the corner and given some horrifically mind-numbing task, as though they were not up to the challenge of joining the real team. At ezCater, we take all our employees seriously and give them the attention and resources needed to grow. We bring them up to speed so they can offer the same level of contributions as everyone else.

ezCater: The computer science grads who are interested in ezPrep Kitchen will probably also consider other engineering jobs and career opportunities in Boston and beyond. How does ezPrep Kitchen, in particular, set someone up for career success?

Dan Pickett: The program enables junior developers to sprint into mid-level careers at lightning speed. That professional development usually takes one to two years. But our goal is to reduce that time by nine months.

Jason Squatrito: Right, ezPrep Kitchen really is a lightning-in-a-bottle opportunity for career advancement. We’re using very modern technologies here, such as Ruby on Rails, React, JavaScript, and GraphQL. Unsurprisingly, these skills are in high demand. Now, we hope our engineers have a long and prosperous career working at ezCater. But when they’re ready for their next career move, their experience here certainly broadens their job opportunities in terms of compensation and promotions. I see this boot camp as pouring fuel into the existing drive and knowledge of our junior engineers—so they can hit the ground running at a thousand miles an hour.

ezCater: What’s your favorite thing about ezPrep Kitchen?

Jason Squatrito: My hope is that the ezPrep Kitchen program helps us hire a diverse team. This year, due to timing, we’re mainly targeting college grads. But we hope to hire senior engineers, too. I’d love nothing more than to formalize a “returnship” program to help caregivers return to the workplace after a career break. Maybe they took a break to care for children or aging parents, and during this time their technical skills became outdated. This is a tough industry because the world keeps moving and new technologies always emerge. Our program could be a great way to help these people become employable again. By going through our coding boot camp, it’s like riding a bike, and it all comes back. It would be personally fulfilling for me—and I think it would be fulfilling for the company—to be able to say we helped. There’s this element of giving back, right? It’s a good thing.

This interview was condensed and edited for clarity.