I’m a professional developer, I’ve been coding since I was 12 and it all started on a Commodore 128. I’ve done an array of work, from general freelance development to an employed web developer handling generic content and e-mail updates.
I was introduced to A/B Testing around 2011, I find this quite interesting and enjoyable. Over the years I have become exceptionally well versed in aspects of test development—having designed and built solutions—in a client side, server side, or hybrid context. This also has given me a deep background on Personalization and how it can interact with test design and analysis.
As a natural extension of test development, you need to measure things and that’s how I got my start with analytic platforms. I’ve worked with both Adobe Analytics and Google Analytics, and I was the primary developer for switching between the two and helping run the transition between the e-commerce developers and Analytics team. This gave me a deep appreciation for data accuracy because it’s not just what you measure, it’s how you measure that can mean the difference between your report being what you expect and being some sort of alternate reality.
I am also well versed in Tag Management, working with both Tealium and Google Tag Manager at different points.
Between the five fields (Privacy, Analytics, Testing, Personalization and Tagging)—I’ve found an industry that I not only very much enjoy, but also actively try to support. . . I can literally talk for hours about it—to anyone who will listen or breathes. No, seriously, no lie, ask my girlfriend. I am a member and mentor with the Digital Analytics Association. Moreover, I try to maintain a presence in the Testing and Learning as well as the #Measure slack communities. You can often find me on the DAA forums or either slack group talking about any of the above interests or external impacts (such as browser changes) that will disrupt the development or analysis of those areas.
When I am not doing development, I enjoy hanging out with my girlfriend and the kids, watching our cats—a skinny siamese named Merlin and a fat (read: big boned) black cat named Blue—or cat videos, unwinding with a video game, or a good book. We love going out to trivia nights at local pubs and giving the fellow trivia geeks a run for their money! Recently I’ve taken up archery (compound and recurve) and I was steadfast in learning everything about the topic that I could and even became an archery instructor and got my hunting certification (even tho I’ll never hunt)!
I shall leave you with a random tidbit about me: I don’t like coats, but do like the cold. Instead of coats I just wear heavier shirts—this is where that crazy employee discount comes in handy! Hello, 7oz of fleece in my shirts.