On May 16, 2023, University of Bridgeport alumni Aytekin Tank celebrated the publication of his first book, Automate Your Busywork. In its scope, the book explores and explains how people can boost their productivity by eliminating lengthy and repetitive tasks through an easy-to-manage software solution — automation.
Automate Your Busywork isn’t Aytekin’s first foray into providing professionals with practical software solutions. An automation expert and prolific entrepreneur, Aytekin also founded Jotform, an acclaimed and wildly successful online tool dedicated to helping users develop professional-quality forms through tools such as automation. Read on to learn about Aytekin’s journey from UB student to international entrepreneurial success — and now, published author!
Big Dreams in Bridgeport
Growing up in Turkey, Aytekin Tank found his calling at a young age. After taking a computer programming class in middle school, Aytekin’s lifelong passion for innovative programming and software development was sparked. “It was work that didn’t actually feel like work to me,” Aytekin recounts.
With his sights set on a career in software development, Aytekin dedicated himself to developing and refining his skillset. When his journey brought him to University of Bridgeport in 1996, Aytekin chose to pursue a degree in Computer Science. “My time at UB was invaluable to my career,” Aytekin reminisces. “It really encouraged my love of coding.”
University of Bridgeport isn’t only where Aytekin’s love for coding blossomed — his passion for business started here, too. “I was able to build a website for a student organization, which I was a member of at the time,” Aytekin remembers. “This was back in 1999, but the website actually featured a profile component very similar to Facebook. I made it available to the world as a free, open-source product and people seemed to really enjoy it. This ultimately ignited my passion for starting a business.”
The Journey to Jotform
Having built and refined his professional knowledge and skills, Aytekin graduated from UB in 2000 with a BS in Computer Science. While he possessed the abilities and vision necessary to succeed as a software developer, Aytekin still faced the problem that many recent grads do when entering the workforce — his first professional role wasn’t entirely what he’d hoped. “I took a job as a web developer for a media company in New York City, where I found myself building online forms. A lot of them,” Aytekin describes. “Forms were one my least favorite things to code. Even for skilled developers, they can be tedious and time-consuming.”
It was here that Aytekin heard the knocking of opportunity — he could turn monotony into opportunity. “I figured there had to be an easier way for people to create forms but there wasn’t a solution on the market yet,” he explains. “So, in 2006, I started building Jotform.”
The Answer is Automation
Today, Jotform provides over 20 million users with the form-generating solutions that Aytekin dreamed of sharing. But it wasn’t always such smooth sailing. As the 2000s tech and computer industries boomed, Aytekin was faced with a daunting challenge. “Just a few years after starting Jotform, Google entered the online form building market,” he recalls. “I was stunned. How could we compete with a Goliath?”
Rather than give way to intimidation, Aytekin sought a solution that would help Jotform maintain its edge over large-scale competitors. After hours of brainstorming, something clicked. “The light bulb went off,” Aytekin describes, “Jotform was founded on the mission to make life easier for people, so I began building automations into Jotform to further that mission and differentiate us in the marketplace against Google Forms.”
Now over 17 years old and home to more than 500 employees, it’s needless to say that Aytekin’s ingenuity and perseverance have secured Jotform’s success. For Aytekin, the bumps in the road have merely been part of a greater journey. “In many ways, I’m grateful to have had challenges like this. It’s what ultimately led to us building a better company.”
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Improving Productivity with Automate Your Busywork
Recently, Aytekin took a new approach to sharing accessible workplace solutions. Released in May, Aytekin’s first book, Automate Your Busywork, provides new and experienced professionals with innovative solutions to make the most of their time at work. These solutions focus on how workers can utilize automation tools to quickly and accurately complete time-consuming tasks.
Like many of Aytekin’s most creative ideas, the inspiration for Automate Your Busywork was drawn from personal experience. “In the early days of Jotform, I was drowning in busywork,” he recounts. “I wasn’t only in charge of building the product. I also answered customer questions, did accounting, ran HR, ordered office supplies, and more.”
Although keeping up these duties helped Aytekin maintain his business, he found that they stole much of his creative time and energy — energy that Aytekin felt would be much better spent on Jotform itself. As a result, he began crafting innovative solutions to simplify and expedite these tedious tasks. “All of that busy work pulled away valuable time that I could be using to build and improve the product,” he explains. “So, I turned to automation. I went on an automation rampage and started eliminating repetitive and time-consuming tasks.”
Aytekin spent days determining which processes to automate before finally finding the time-saving solutions for which he’d been looking, and while it may have seemed like a large investment of time on the outset, the impact of his work quickly became apparent. “I got back hours of time a day that I could use on bigger, more creative projects,” he explains.
By automating menial tasks, Aytekin was able to enjoy a newfound sense of time and productivity. Moreover, he recognized the far-reaching potential of his automated solutions. “I wrote Automate Your Busywork to help people learn how to automate their workflows as I did,” Aytekin describes. “The principles I advocate in Automate Your Busywork were hard-learned over years of refining my own productive habits. It was important to me to share the skills I developed, and to help people free themselves so they could spend their time doing things they love.”
Keeping up with the Competition
Aytekin Tank has been working as a software developer since 2000. In the 23 years since, technology has evolved rapidly, with the newest upgrades and latest innovations always waiting around the corner. During that time, Aytekin has seen considerable shifts occur through the software industry. “It’s impossible to ignore the biggest change disrupting software today: artificial intelligence,” he explains. “It’s all anyone is talking about right now, and for good reason. AI will change everything. As for how it will change things, it’s too early to tell.”
Although the future of AI remains uncertain, Aytekin emphasizes the evergreen nature of automated solutions. “There’s one thing I can say for certain,” he offers. “The principles I lay out in Automate Your Busywork will remain applicable as the world advances with AI. Regardless of how technology changes, people will be able to use the book to transform their workflows, cut out tedious tasks, and free them up to take on bigger, more creative projects.”
Looking Back at UB
Recalling his experiences as a Purple Knight, Aytekin offers advice for today’s Computer Science students. “Practice regularly and work on whatever projects you can get your hands on. Consistently practicing your programming skills is absolutely crucial. Write code regularly, work on personal projects, and contribute to open-source projects as well. This will not only help you gain practical experience but will also provide you with a portfolio to showcase your abilities to potential employers. And you never know, it might just turn into your very own business.”
Interested in achieving a career in software development, programming, or computer science? Learn more about earning your Computer Science degree at University of Bridgeport, or call (203) 576-4552.