CTO Full-stack Developer

I have had the pleasure of working with this individual in a wide variety of ed-tech endeavors over the last ten years; from volunteering to teach code to high school students, to working in an ed-tech start-up, to co-founding an ed-tech business together. I have seen the huge variety of technical, leadership, and human-centric skills they bring to every team and project. Before joining the ed-tech sector, they gained a wealth of experience in the IT consulting sector, in which they established the ability to quickly onboard to new codebases and technologies, develop prototypes, and reshape codebases for future ease of use, sustainability, and growth. They joined an ed-tech start-up at which I was working, and they were quick to onboard to the stack and take on the leadership of key projects. As an existing employee, I found myself uplifted in my own work by their work patterns from consulting days and benefitted from their propensity to share knowledge and strategies.

It is always a pleasure to work with this person from a technical perspective, but the customer-focused perspective they bring to their work is what truly makes their contributions not just technically clever, but necessary for the ongoing success of users and the business. They are not about “tech for tech’s sake”; they believe in creating the tools that people need and speaking up when a team starts to lose sight of the true objective of supporting its customers in the short and long term. Having seen a lot of less-than-optimal codebases in their time as a consultant, they endeavor to create code that will set the team up for success as the business and team grow. As someone with a passion for education, this ideology extends to their team members - supporting team members at all levels to develop their skills through mentorship and their positive, approachable, and patient nature that allows them to meet people where they are and support them to overcome hurdles and build skills for success and growth.

Overall, this individual is stellar to work alongside as a teammate and co-founder who is delighted to tackle all manner of technical challenges, anywhere from full-stack development to embedded systems, getting into the weeds with new technologies or quickly whipping up a demo. Their servile leadership style when managing a project and/or team is inspiring for those working (and learning) around them and allows teams to better share their ideas, build their skills, and deliver projects that create impact.