What’s it like to work at Perficient? Rewarding, inspiring, collaborative, and oftentimes just flat-out FUN.
There are always countless ways to connect with colleagues. One of the things that’s brought us all together lately: our favorite fighting robot, Perficient’s Minotaur.
We’ve proudly partnered with the Brazilian-based fighting robot builder team, RioBotz, and their BattleBots competitor Minotaur for the 2021-2022 season on the Discovery Channel. To say our colleagues have embraced the partnership would be an understatement. We’ve got a fiercely dedicated fanbase!
How Rooting for RioBotz and Minotaur Has Brought Perficient Teammates Together
1. A Shared Sense of Pride in Working at Perficient
When our colleagues first learned about our RioBotz partnership, they were excited. As it turns out, by no big surprise, many were already avid BattleBots watchers – and many were even fans of Minotaur already.
“OMG I’m so pumped for this! I love Minotaur!! #TeamBrazil #TeamFreitas” —Eric Markson, senior technical consultant
“What an awesome idea!!!! Absolutely love it!!” —Nicolas Frantzen, director, Data Solutions
“Very COOL” —Bill Holehouse, account developer
“Great collab! We watch BattleBots as a family, so the kids will be proud!” —José Echeverri, account manager
“I’ve been watching the revamped show since the first one, and my wife didn’t believe me when I told her it was cool. I think the sport will keep gaining traction with the Discovery Channel doing such a great job with production. Love that I have a team to root for now! Awesome idea!” —Tyler Harper, business consultant
Excitement continued to build leading up to Minotaur’s season six BattleBots debut on January 6, and our colleagues couldn’t get over the mighty bot’s strength and resilience during what proved to be a fire-filled first matchup (read our reactions and takeaways here). What’s more, seeing Perficient’s strong support of RioBotz – and the team sporting Perficient-branded hats, shirts, and facemasks during the broadcasts – elevated our colleagues’ sense of pride in working at Perficient.
2. A Shared Affinity for STEM
Our colleagues love BattleBots because, like Perficient, STEM is not only fun but also has the power to change lives.
Adam Bryant is a longtime technical architect at Perficient and also a longtime FIRST Robotics Competition high-school team leader. He was thrilled to learn about Perficient’s RioBotz and Minotaur partnership not only because he’s a BattleBots fan, but he also has an appreciation for all that’s involved in building robots.
Adam Bryant sports his Perficient Minotaur hat while preparing students for a FIRST Robotics competition.
“These robots impart and absorb a tremendous amount of kinetic energy. Despite their seeming simplicity, every one of them is the result of hundreds of hours of design, building, testing, redesign, rebuild, etc.,” he said.
3. A Shared Sense of Comradery
If you work for Perficient, you know that your colleagues are always there for you. Watching the February 10 episode of BattleBots, which featured a matchup between Minotaur and Dragon Slayer, proved exciting and redeeming. The bull was raging and handed Dragon Slayer a quick defeat, resulting in a win by TKO and the RioBotz’s team’s first win of the season.
Watch Minotaur battle Dragon Slayer:
Our colleagues were watching and celebrated the big win:
“VICTORY!” —Eric Walk, director
“Redemption!” —Connor Stieferman, marketing manager
“Slayed the slayer!” —Ty Rhudy, portfolio specialist
“That’s a winner!!!” —Melinda Schmidt, solutions architect
“Great victory! Total domination!!! The team certainly took their pain out on Dragon Slayer.” —Glenn Kline, area vice president
Unfortunately during the episode, the pain extended beyond the bots getting banged up. The RioBotz team interview after the match tugged at our heartstrings as driver Daniel Freitas got choked up over the heartbreaking passing of his mother and grandmother. We watched as Daniel’s RioBotz teammates embraced him and reassured him that they were there for him.
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Along with the BattleBots community, our colleagues wanted Daniel to know that we, too, were thinking about him. And we found ourselves relating to the RioBotz team’s dedication to one another, especially in the midst of personal grief and tragedy. That sense of solidarity plays out time and again at Perficient, and that’s especially been the case during the global pandemic.
JOIN OUR TEAM
Feeling a bit of FOMO right now? Find out how to become part of our team at Perficient at perficient.com/careers! Minotaur hat optional (but hard to resist).
Don’t forget to tune into BattleBots on the Discovery Channel or stream it on Discovery Plus each Thursday at 8 PM ET. We’re looking forward to seeing the RioBotz team back together again for Minotaur’s next matchup on Thursday, March 3 at 8pm ET.
(Photo Credit: BattleBots, Discovery Channel)
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