Jose Martinez

A UCSB to Yardi Story

By Leah Etling on Apr 13, 2017 in People

For college students leaving UC Santa Barbara, the pull to stay in Santa Barbara can be strong.

With beautiful beaches and mountains, a friendly city with a small town feel, and the chance to participate in all sorts of fun recreational sports, many consider this part of California to be paradise.

For Yardi Development Manager Jose Martinez, that was the case when he was about to graduate from UCSB ten years ago. He had the added desire to stay close to his hometown of Oxnard, just 30 minutes south of Santa Barbara.

A computer engineering major at UCSB, Martinez didn’t want to give up the chance to build a career with a strong company. He had worked hard as an undergrad to build up his computer programming knowledge, and wanted to put those skills to good use in his first job out of college.

At a UCSB Career Fair, he discovered Yardi Systems, a Santa Barbara-based software-as-a-service provider for the real estate industry that was growing fast.

Martinez submitted an application, was interviewed, and accepted a position with Yardi’s military housing division, then a new product for the company.

“The team was implementing U.S. Army installations onto the software, and mapping data from a non-Yardi database onto Yardi’s platform. I had taken a SQL course in my last year of college because I suspected that was what companies might be looking for. I jumped in and was helping with SQL scripting solutions for military housing clients,” Martinez recalled.

Fast forward a decade, and Martinez now heads the programming team for the Specialty Solutions suite, which includes projects for a variety of non-traditional housing markets. He oversees 40 employees, including software engineers, quality assurance specialists and technical writers. A portion of the team is based in Yardi’s Pune, India office, where he travels once a year.

After demonstrating leadership aptitude, Martinez became a team lead after just a few years at Yardi, and was subsequently promoted to manager.

“While I initially worked in client services, midway through my second year I was able to transition to product development,” he noted. “We worked on preparing the military product for compatibility with the Yardi Voyager platform, which happened when Voyager 7S was introduced.”

The team then moved on to other interesting projects, such as student housing, single family home rentals, and corporate housing. An application focusing on property and asset inspections was another challenge.

“I don’t dread coming into the office. I know there is always something to do and something to look forward to,” Martinez said. He also appreciates that Yardi provides him with great work-life balance, allowing plenty of time in evening and weekends to focus on his family. He and his wife, Jenny, have a two year old daughter.

“I keep up with my UCSB friends who have gone to other jobs in other cities, and many are working ridiculous hours and have a very high cost of living,” Martinez observed. “There are definitely trade-offs. Friends might be talking about money or wanting to work at Apple or Google. But really you should listen to yourself. What career choice is going to give you a healthy lifestyle?”

He frequently attends UCSB’s career fairs and talks to students about the opportunities to stay in Santa Barbara after college that they might not realize exist. Many ask him what life in the workplace is really like.

“I just try to be as real with the college students as I can, and explain the variety of what is out there. Yeah, you might make more money as a programmer in the Bay Area, but at what cost? You’re paying high rent, and probably working twice the hours. The Yardi environment is very healthy – and it’s right here at home.”

Find out more about careers at Yardi.