Anna Hadnagy was born and raised in Budapest, Hungary before graduating from Nazareth College in Rochester, New York. Today, she works out of Atlanta, Georgia as Loop’s first and only database administrator (DBA). 

“I am what we refer to in the industry as an ‘accidental DBA’,” she said.

“Many of us don’t have traditional engineering degrees; I became a DBA because of my irresistible attraction to understanding how stuff works.”

She also leads our DevOps team.

“An easy way to understand DevOps is to consider this relationship: If merchants are engineers’s clients, engineers are DevOps’s clients,” she said. “Balancing these two responsibilities keeps my work interesting.”

The following is a transcript of an interview by JP Arnaud-Marquez, Loop’s principal content marketing manager. Some of the questions have been edited for brevity and clarity.

What new belief, habit, or behavior has impacted your life the most in the past year?

I learned to apologize for the unintended and unexpected consequences of my actions.

For example, imagine you tell a friend you’ll call them at a previously agreed upon time, but something comes up and you miss the call. Maybe they felt worried, thinking something happened to you, and you say “Oh, I am sorry you felt worried, that was not my intention, I actually just got slammed with a bunch of meetings.” 

Their reaction, worry, is an unintended consequence of you not calling them. An apology probably comes pretty easily. 

But, what if they get angry? “You said you would call, you didn’t. My time is important, yet you seem to not care about that at all?!”

That, to me, is an unexpected reaction. It’s taken me some mental conditioning to realize that people can react in a wide range of ways in any given situation; and none of those reactions are any more or less my responsibility.

The best I can do in these situations is apologize for the unintended and unexpected consequences of my actions. It’s usually a great way to show empathy, which opens the door for more candid conversations.

Why did you join Loop and what keeps you coming back?

I believe in our product. Everyday I hear merchant success stories which makes the work quite fulfilling. 

From a technical standpoint, Loop’s stack was unlike anything I’ve worked with, making it a unique challenge to overcome. It’s important to learn new things, constantly grow, and push myself out of my comfort zone and Loop gives me that opportunity. Traveling is a big part of my life; it’s what I enjoy most outside of work. We are a remote-first company, making travel easier which is something I’m thankful for.

Hadnagy at the Ponta Da Ferraria of Sao Miguel Island in Azores, Portugal.

Knowing it’s Women’s History Month, what perspectives could you share about working in tech?

This applies to other minorities, not just women, but diversity does not end with the hiring process. Diversity includes many more elements like maintaining a work environment that is welcoming to all and proactively mentoring diverse team members to nurture them into leadership roles.

This does not happen on its own; you have to be mindful of it. And it’s not just diversity for the sake of diversity. This must be a priority for all teams because it’s proven that diverse teams simply function better – that’s the key.

Loop continues to impress me. Not only is the People team constantly evolving their hiring process, but our culture is accepting and welcoming. Plus, I’ve started to see team members outside of the People team asking about diversity and showing a vested interest in it.

Loop’s treated me the same way any other aspiring leader would be treated; with support and enthusiasm. Most notably by granting me the opportunity to lead our DevOps team, but in everyday gestures, too.

Interested in working at Loop? Check out our careers page here.