Despite the rough times, we're happy to see our hard work pay off in the form of company growth. Hopefully you've already met our semi-newbies, like
Carney,
Mark,
Cayla and
Daissy. But today, I'd like to tell you about our new batch.
Read below to get inside of their heads and see what makes them tick.
I've spiced things up a little bit, but it's still mostly true.
First, we have
Jim Danko. He's just joined our IS team as a Software Developer, working with both .NET and PHP. As you can see above, he's got a little bit of a wild side and is all about having fun. He's excited about MindComet's culture, describing it as "really like nothing I've seen." He also owns a Zune, but we don't hold that against him.
He came to us from Ohio and doesn't miss it one bit. He's worked as both an in-house developer and for an interactive agency before joining our team. In his free time, he codes some more, wails on his guitar and plays some video games (anything where he can drive fast and/or shoot things). When he's not making the music, he listens to a wide range of tunes, from NOFX to Wu-Tang Clan to Johnny Cash. He secretly wishes that he could join forces with all three to create one mega-band that could bring world peace with their sweet jams.
I asked Jim for an interesting fact about himself and he responded that "There's nothing about me that ISN'T interesting or unique." Connect with him on Twitter and be the judge:
@jimdanko
Next, we have
Rick Donelson. He's also a brand new Software Developer, starting alongside Jim. Rick's such a nice guy, telling me that he's "excited to be a part of such a talented team" (I'm blushing), but also excited to have "the opportunity to work with such a diverse set of clients, projects and technologies." You can really tell that Rick is passionate about his work, and we think that's great.
Before joining our team in May, he married his wonderful wife and moved to Florida to work as a PHP Developer at NFi Studios. He actually worked with David Verble, who you'll meet below. He originally comes from a little town in northeast Missouri called Palmyra, which is also the name of
an ancient Aramaic city. When he's not coding, he enjoys spending time with his wife and two wiener dogs. He likes to watch TV/movies and also enjoys the occasional cigar. His passions are solving problems and understanding how things work. He also likes building things, in the real or digital world. The idea of creating something from little or nothing brings him great pleasure.
Finally, believe it or not, but Rick's been performing magic since he was 8 years old. And now that we know this, we're looking forward to seeing him perform, and maybe we'll even feature him on Cakeplow sometime in the near future! You can catch him on Twitter here:
@rdonelson
And from the other side of the office, we have an even newer team member,
David Verble. He's only been with us for a short time, but he's really hit the ground running and doing a great job as our Senior Account Manager. His excitement was clear when I asked him what he was looking most forward to at MindComet: "I'm pumped about working with a top notch team with some great clients in an awesome environment...whats not to like?"
His passions are one facet that make him an excellent fit for our Account Team. He loves all things interactive: the Web, social technologies, augmented reality, immersive games and interactive exhibits, just to name a few. He's been in Central Florida for quite a while, graduating from UCF with a Masters in Interactive Entertainment. He previously worked with our Account Director,
Matthew Gardner, for two years with the Digital Agency Lightmaker, and more recently at NFi Studios as a Project Manager working on social networking Web applications.
But before Central Florida, he was born in Knoxville, TN and grew up a few hours away just outside of Jacksonville, FL. In his spare time, he also plays the guitar - maybe he and Jim should start a band, and
Pants could be on the drums. He also loves to travel and the beach. He's been known to hang ten.
David's interesting fact is more of a story: "When I was a senior at Stetson University, I put an inflatable kiddie pool in the back of my truck and and drove all over campus with about 4 guys in the pool... and called it
Broah's Ark." Now that's classic! Keep up with his exploits here:
@dverble
Brandon Brown hasn't been with us for very long, but we're growing attached to him. He's the newest tool in our creative arsenal, joining the team as a Junior Designer. He originates from Maywood, NJ, where he worked at a small company called EarthCam. There he did everything from internal creative, Times Square and National TV commercial spots, to photographing and producing Hawaiian Tropic Bikini Pageants. I haven't asked him what he missed the most, so you'll just have to guess. He came to Florida to finish his education at Full Sail University and we promptly snatched him up afterward.
One of the big reasons that he's so excited to be a part of our team is "the overall involvement the company has within the local professional community." He continues: "Events like
Refresh Orlando,
Florida Drupal Users Group and
Social Media Club to name a few, are a big part of why I like telling others that I am a MindComet-eer."
When he's not designing, it's hard to hold him down. He's often at the beach, playing sports or hitting the gym. He secretly wishes to bring muscle beach to FL because ladies are so fun to bench press. But his real passion is cycling. After some time off, he's training to become competitive within the next 2-3 years, with the goal of competing in an iron man event in the not too distant future.
Finally, check out his interesting fact, complete with Wikipedia links to clue you in: "I keep various
dendrobates and other amphibians. I also build custom
Paludariums to keep them in. Right now, I only have three
fire-bellied toads because of moving so much lately, but have kept a wide variety of different dendrobates. Moving to Florida was great because the exotic pet communities down here are much larger and active than back north."
If you'd like to chat about dendrobates, you can find him here:
@bybrandonbrown. Or you can dive deeper at
bybrandonbrown.com.
Last, but definitely not least, we have
William Chang, also a Software Developer. He's been developing for over a decade and specializes in ASP.NET C#, but has worked with many technologies, like Java, PHP, C++, JavaScript, Python and OpenGL. He's here to overcome obstacles and loves to learn and collaborate - an overall great guy to have on our team. Will is a Software Engineer by trade and makes Web applications for all kinds of clients from government to the entertainment industry.
He's an Orlando native and graduated from UCF. He enjoys researching technology and his passion is prototyping cutting edge technologies. He thinks the Web is the future. But outside of the tech world, he likes to go on adventures and play sports like kayaking, tennis, basketball, horseback riding, canoeing, surfing and so on. Will's got a big bad Harley, as you can see above. His secret dream is to be the next Evil Knievel and jump the Grand Canyon, but for now, he enjoys keeping both wheels on the ground.
He's a man of few words and always has a smile on his face. Contrary to what some might expect from a developer, he'd rather meet you in person than online. William's open-minded and entrepreneurial, but in the end, he'd like to do his best to make the world a better place. What a noble goal! You can learn more and connect with him at
williamchang.org.
And there you have it. I hope you enjoyed learning a little bit about our newest additions to the team. We're excited to have them and are looking forward to introducing them to the
Wheel of Destiny. Stay tuned to see how they fare!
