“Community” is an ideal that’s easy to profess but harder to live by. But believe us when we say our newest full-stack developer Byron is all about community. Born and raised in Cleveland, Byron studied computer engineering in college, then worked in robotics and embedded systems, even winning the National Robotic Competition with an autonomous sumo bot. But the “human aspect” was missing for Byron, so he taught himself web development. For Byron, working in the web is all about the end user—“You never forget someone has to use the thing,” he says—as well as creating a network of other developers to learn with and from.
Byron attends lots of meetups, hackathons, and workshops, including the Maker Series and Rustbelt Refresh, where he first connected with Sparkbox. And when there was no frontend development meetup in Akron, where he now lives with his wife and two children, Byron created one.
When he’s not creating stable, reliable, and performant web applications or bringing together web craftspeople, Byron is building community through groups like Torchbearers, which connects nonprofits with emerging leaders, and Cleveland GiveCamp, which helps nonprofits solve issues using technology. He’s also planning a new initiative that will provide free drum lessons to young students. “Music helped me so much when I was a kid,” says Byron, whose “it takes a village” mentality means it would be impossible for him not to share something he loves with kids who could also benefit from it.
Say hi to Byron on Twitter and join us in welcoming him to the Sparkbox community. We’re so glad he’s here.
