It’s Big Nerd of the Month time again. This month’s winner earned her spot in our Nerd Hall of Fame by fastidiously ensuring that our developers and our clients are happy. (Whew!) Without further adieu, I’m proud to introduce Project Strategist Jenn Green as our September 2013 Big Nerd of the Month!

BNR Blog: Hi Jenn, and congratulations! The last few Big Nerds of the Month have been developers. How does it feel to be the first Project Strategist to earn the coveted title of Big Nerd of the Month?

JG: It really is a huge honor and a compliment to the Project Strategist team and the work we do. Personally, I’ve always thought of Big Nerd of the Month as recognizing stellar developers. Our developers and designers build some pretty awesome stuff, so I never really thought about being a candidate. It means so much to me that I’ve received this award based on votes from my co-workers

BNR Blog: I was there when CBQ presented you with the Big Nerd of the Month trophy. You were just wrapping up an internal Nerd Share Time presentation, I believe. How surprised were you?

JG: Very, very surprised. I’m not sure if my Nerd Share Time audio was still being recorded, but I believe my response was, “Whaaaaaaaaaat?”

BNR Blog: I can confirm that! Can you tell us a little more about what being a Project Strategist for Big Nerd Ranch entails?

JG: I think of our designers and developers as being the starting roster of a top-tier soccer team (I’m a BIG soccer fan), and my role as Project Strategist makes me something like an equipment manager (just kidding).

But seriously, the Project Strategist team adds structure to our client projects. That starts with connecting developers to consulting projects and includes tracking progress and deliverables while nurturing the client-developer relationship. We often work behind-the-scenes to make sure that our consulting projects are healthy on all sides. That means advocating for clients and for development and design standards in tandem. Overall, it involves a lot of multi-tasking, problem solving and communicating across internal teams and with clients.

BNR Blog: Wow! You really do a lot! What made you decide to come to Big Nerd Ranch to work as a Project Strategist?

JG: Prior to Big Nerd Ranch (and Highgroove), I had been working as a client manager for an instructional technology company. However, I didn’t feel challenged enough and wasn’t growing professionally as much as I would have liked. I love learning and I’m driven by opportunities to grow professionally. I was searching for an opportunity to work directly with developers and designers, while also continuing with client project management. I knew I wanted to work for a company with a fresh approach to corporate culture.

I say all the time that I’ve learned more in one year at Big Nerd Ranch than I did in the five years prior.

BNR Blog:  I know you have a King Charles Cavalier Spaniel, Rupert. He’s really adorable, and I’m such a dog person. Tell me a bit about Rupert (and his affinity for bow ties)?

JG: Rupert is four years old and spoiled rotten. One of his favorite things in the world is coming with me when I work at the Big Nerd Ranch USSHG office. I like to think that it’s because he gets to spend time with me, but I think it’s actually because of how much food he gets by trolling the kitchen. I discovered his affinity for bow-ties when a friend of mine gave me one for him to wear. I’ve yet to find a good top-hat to match. As a nerdy aside, he’s named after the character of Rupert Giles on “Buffy the Vampire Slayer.”

BNR Blog: I miss Buffy! But I have to ask about “Drumline.” I understand you were an extra. I definitely need to hear the details of this.

JG: I got my undergrad from Georgia State in Film and Video. The best place to get experience in film and TV production was working as an extra. The production for “Drumline” was always in need of extras, especially for large crowd scenes. I’d say 70 percent of the folks in my film classes at the time were extras. I also did some work on “Sweet Home Alabama”, “The Fighting Temptations” and “MTV Cribs”. Cee-lo’s house was a lot of fun.

BNR Blog: Lastly, what advice would you have for someone who’s just getting their career started?

JG: Show initiative at every opportunity and get a mentor. I worked several jobs at a time in college and while interning, I took every grunt assignment and extra task I could just to learn more and gain experience. Having solid professional experience really paid off when I graduated from school.

Having a mentor is key to professional growth. I’ve been lucky to have a few bosses who embraced the teaching and mentoring opportunities that come with being someone’s manager.

Finally, don’t be afraid to work outside of your comfort zone; sometimes you don’t know what you’re capable of until to accept a challenge.

BNR Blog: That’s it for this edition of Big Nerd of the Month! Join us next month when we introduce our October Big Nerd of the Month.

If you’re interested in joining the Big Nerd Ranch team check out our careers page and apply!

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It’s my favorite time again, when we announce the Big Nerd Ranch Big Nerd of the Month!

This month, we have one of the authors of Cocoa Programming for Mac OS X. He’s a pinball wizard and candy corn fanatic. Drumroll please… Adam Preble is the Big Nerd of the Month for August 2013!

BNR Blog: Congratulations on being named Big Nerd of the Month, Adam! Should we have some candy corn to celebrate? I hear it’s your favorite.

AP: Thank you! I’m glad you asked—I took the liberty of preparing several candy corn dishes for us to enjoy during the interview. The ingredients are all the same, but as you can see the arrangements are different. Which would you like to try first?

BNR Blog: I have to tell you, I’m not a huge candy corn fan.

AP: Oh. Well, don’t feel obligated. (Puts serving tray away.)

BNR Blog: I have to ask, though: candy corn? What’s with the love for it?

AP: Candy corn is about as American as it gets, don’t you think? Like the flag, it has three colors. It’s got corn syrup. It was invented by the Pilgrims at the first Thanksgiving as a substitute dessert when their cakes fell. I’m thinking of starting a Twitter account, @candycornfacts.

BNR Blog: I’d follow, for sure. I could learn a lot. That brings me to my next question: Are you a candy corn purist? Despite not being a huge fan, I have a friend that makes an awesome candy corn bark. There’s also chocolate candy corn, which I’ve had, and it isn’t terrible…

AP: Don’t you mean candy corn husk?

BNR Blog: Is that the scientific name? Yeah, candy corn husks. Those are pretty good. I’ve also heard about your undying love for pinball. How did you get into pinball?

AP: Pinball is the perfect union of art, technology and the physical world. Dozens of computer-controlled lamps, a steel ball that you can (with practice or luck) send flying through ramps… I’m getting misty-eyed.

BNR Blog: That’s beautiful. Naturally, I have to ask what your favorite pinball game of all time is.

AP: My top three, you ask? Very well.

• Twilight Zone: This game is hard. And mean. This game will torment you over your love of candy corn. But it’s worth it to hear “Don’t touch the door!” as you start multiball, or for the very rare occasion of reaching “Lost in the Zone”. I have reached LITZ maybe three times.
• White Water: Amazing playfield and ramps. Everything really came together beautifully on this game.
• Medieval Madness: It’s the whole package. Brilliant writing, voice acting, sound, toys (a working drawbridge and gate! trolls!), killer art and it’s not too easy.

BNR Blog: Pinball is something that I can get behind (sorry, candy corn). Can you tell me a little bit more about pyprocgame?

AP: Not long after I got my first pinball machine, I wanted to find a way to program them. In the 90’s, they did this with assembly and C, but I thought it would be more fun to write a game in a high-level language. After spending a lot of time tinkering with using an Arduino as my interface to an existing game’s CPU board (this was on a Whirlwind, and it mostly worked), I stumbled across this guy Gerry who was making a board called the P-ROC to do exactly what I was trying to do with the Arduino, only better. Luckily for me, he was open to opinions about how the software should be done, and so I barged in and wrote a bunch of the open-source software stack. Pyprocgame sits on top; it’s the high-level Python library that you use to write game code with.

I don’t write much pinball software these days, but there are a good number of people all over the world who are building games based on pyprocgame. It’s extremely cool to see that.

BNR Blog: It’s really amazing that people are still building pinball games based on your program. Can you tell us about another one of your nerdy hobbies?

AP: I recently got back into O scale model railroading, which I haven’t touched since I was a teenager. It might have something to do with all of the CSX trains that roll by the Ranch every day. In the abstract, model railroading is quite a bit like pinball in that it combines art, technology and the physical world. The difference is that you have to build the world yourself.

BNR Blog: Speaking of the Ranch, how did you come to be employed by Big Nerd Ranch?

AP: I wanted to write great Cocoa and iOS software, and the Ranch was the clear choice. I knew Alex (ed note: Alex is our July 2012 Big Nerd of the Month) through CocoaHeads Atlanta and asked him if Big Nerd Ranch was hiring. Three years later, I can say that I feel quite fortunate to work with such a great group of people, and being able to share my enthusiasm for the Cocoa and iOS platforms with our students is a great perk of the job.

BNR Blog: Last question, and it’s a two-parter. Do you have any suggestions for someone who wants to break into development? What are your recommendations for someone who is just starting, whether they’re exploring a new career path or have just begun thinking of the future?

AP: When you’re just getting started, avoid focusing too much on one platform or language. This will help you develop a better base and you’ll be more prepared to adapt. Even if you don’t want a job writing C, learn it. Take the time to understand pointers, memory, bitwise operations and so forth. Force yourself to get out of your comfort zone. You’ll be surprised how that knowledge will come in handy.

As for your career path, sometimes the best job for you isn’t always using the tools or language that you thought you wanted to use. What’s most important is the people you work with. When I graduated from Georgia Tech, I thought I wanted to write web sites in Java; instead I took a job writing an MPEG demultiplexer in C/C++. Dot com bubble aside, it ended up being a great decision; I stayed at that company for seven years. I made that decision because I felt better about the people involved, and with a great foundation in software (and C—cowboy hat tip to Jim Greenlee) I was prepared to adapt to the language.

BNR Blog: Thanks for the insights, Adam! Enjoy the trophy.

Are you adaptable like Adam? Big Nerd Ranch has open positions for iOS, Android, Open GL and web applications developers. Check out our careers page if you think you could be the Big Nerd of the Month someday soon!

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Our latest Big Nerd of the Month is a brilliant guy, a prolific speaker (perhaps you saw his closing keynote at RubyConf India?) and an open-source expert. We are incredibly proud to name Andy Lindeman Big Nerd of the Month for July 2013.

BNR Blog: Hi Andy! Congratulations on being named Big Nerd of the Month. How does it feel to hold the coveted (and highly decorated) trophy?

AL: I’m honored and also humbled. I admire the folks who have received it before me, and I also know there are many others at Big Nerd Ranch who are deserving.

BNR Blog: How did you come by employment at Big Nerd Ranch?

AL: I came to Big Nerd Ranch when Big Nerd Ranch and Highgroove Studios merged last year. I joined Highgroove two and a half years ago when it was comprised of only around five people. I wanted to work for a smaller company building web applications with cutting-edge technology. It was a really good choice: I’ve gotten to work on some very interesting problems with some very smart people.

BNR Blog: We’re all nerds here, so what’s the nerdiest thing you’ve ever done?

AL: At Big Nerd Ranch, we can unlock our office doors with an app on our phones. The initial version was built by a team of us in a few hours during a Hack Night. While the app has since been improved, I was simultaneously proud of and horrified by the Rube Goldberg machine we created that first evening.

A Mac Mini in the office ran a small Ruby web server that, when a valid “open door” request was received, wrote a byte of data to a serial port connected to an Arduino. This byte of data prompted the Arduino to set a pin high that in turn prompted a disassembled remote to actually unlock the door. On that Hack Night, though, we were not able to coordinate with our administrators to allow requests into our network. As a temporary solution, I set up a persistent reverse SSH tunnel through a Raspberry Pi in my own living room. For a few days, some of us opened the door by proxying through this device.

BNR Blog: That is definitely a high level of nerdiness. We heard about your recent 5k run at RubyConf India. I’ve seen the pictures, and it looks like a lot of people ran it! What’s up with the 5k at a conference? Is it a tradition or a new trend?

AL: Many conferences, especially those in the Ruby community, are holding runs alongside the conferences. I think it’s a great idea. In India, I got to see other parts of the city and make new acquaintances. Exercising in the morning is also a nice way to get energized for a day of learning and meeting new people.

BNR Blog: It must have been really exhilarating to see India that way. I guess it’s safe to say you’re a runner?

AL: I am! I try to get out for a few miles a few times a week. For me, it relieves tension and allows me to catch up on news, politics and technology when I listen to podcasts.

I was teased (in a friendly way) when I first started at Highgroove because pretty much everyone else was into cycling.

Big Nerd Ranch still has lots of bicyclists, but there is now a growing subset of runners. I usually run with other Nerds at 6 p.m. on Wednesdays starting from our office in Inman Park. It’s open to those outside Big Nerd Ranch, too.

BNR Blog: Very cool. I may have to join in one Wednesday. Other than running, what do you do when you’re not writing code?

AL: Running is what I do most regularly. I also enjoy backpacking and have hiked segments of the Appalachian Trail and other wilderness areas in Alabama and Georgia. Pine Mountain Trail is a favorite of mine in Georgia.

I also enjoy reading, normally science fiction or technothrillers (think Michael Crichton or Orson Scott Card).

BNR Blog: What advice do you have for developers who are looking to expand their knowledge and help out others in the developer community?

AL: Getting involved with open source is the best way I know. Open-source software drives a huge amount of the software we write in the Ruby community.

Open source is also a lot of fun. I meet and interact with people from diverse backgrounds and learn from some of the best minds. Some open-source projects are not as inviting as others, but with a little bit of persistence, I think it’s pretty easy to find one that will value your talents and help you grow. The best projects to start contributing to are the ones you’re already using: the next time you find a bug or a missing feature, try following through on it yourself.

BNR Blog: You won Big Nerd of the Month not only because of your skills and your contributions, but also because of your willingness to help out everyone at Big Nerd Ranch. Where do you get your helpful spirit?

AL: Helping others solve problems is exhilarating to me. Seeing a lightbulb go off will never get old. I also know that I almost always learn something myself in the process of teaching.

BNR Blog: Thanks Andy! Congratulations again on being Big Nerd of the Month for July 2013.

Alas, Andy is leaving Big Nerd Ranch for a new endeavor. We’ll miss you, Andy, and we wish you good luck on your next big adventure.

We’ve got some shoes to fill, and if you think you could be Big Nerd of the Month in the future, check out our careers page and apply!

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Hack Nights are Big Nerd Ranch’s way of getting to know our community and sharpen our own skills. On Monday, we collaborated with MailChimp and challenged developers to hack on MailChimp’s revamped API.

We were joined by Eric Muntz, MailChimp’s lead engineer, and Nathan Ranson, API liaison, who were on hand to answer any questions.

We saw two fantastic presentations at the end of the evening:

• Mikhail Burshteyn created Flock, which uses the MailChimp API for informal event planning. You can see what your friends have planned when you join their “flock,” then hash out the details with a group chat. 

Patrick Van Stee, Jithu Maliakal and Taggart Bowen-Gaddy presented MailDown, which allows the user to send an email in markdown and then see it live online. The code for MailDown is available on GitHub.

If you’re in the Atlanta area, join us for our next Hack Night on August 12. Hope to see you there!

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