Get to Know Tyler

Tyler has come from being an aspiring journalist (he’s still a great writer and you should check out his blog!) to graphic design to development and devops. If there’s anything to take away from this, it’s to always follow your curiosity and those opportunities to learn.

Full Transcript Below:

Tyler:

I’m kind of more of a polyglot. I just, I like all the things-

Cris:

You like to always start world war three as we call it, which-

Tyler:

Actually I was wanting to be a journalist. But-

Cris:

Because I know you’re a man of many languages, you’re always learning new stuff and you know-

Cris:

Tyler, it’s good to have you with us today. Thanks for coming out. I’m excited to basically just do a little get to know you, which is fun. We’ve done this with a few people, so I hope you’re excited. It’s going to be fun.

Tyler:

Yeah, thanks for having me.

Cris:

Yeah, no problem. So I wanted to jump in, first what’s your rough background and how did you get into tech in general?

Tyler:

Actually, I come from a graphic design background and I actually did graphic design in college, it’s what I have my degree in, but it was more of a web design focus. So, that’s how I got into there. Then I took a couple of programming courses in JavaScript and that piqued my interest into programming and it snowballed from there. I just, I got hooked instantly and then decided that I actually enjoy programming more than I actually enjoyed the design-

Tyler:

[crosstalk 00:01:17].

Cris:

Enjoyed the design side. Yeah. Did you grow up drawing a lot as a kid? What pushed you maybe to graphic design to begin with?

Tyler:

I actually, funny enough, I wasn’t really artistic when I was in high school. I actually wanted to be a writer in high school and I actually wanted to be a journalist. But-

Cris:

I’ve seen your writing. You’re a fantastic writer, so that makes sense.

Tyler:

Yeah, so I decided, for some reason graphic design just stuck with me-

Cris:

Jumped out?

Tyler:

It just jumped out and I just went in that direction.

Cris:

That’s cool. But then getting into it, you realized that more of the development side and maybe less of the actual design side was where you’re leaning.

Tyler:

It was so interesting, the history of the web and just everything about it just interested me.

Cris:

That’s cool. So what got you connected then with us? How did you actually get connected to Bixly?

Tyler:

Funny enough, back in 2013, I saw a promo video, back in the day. I was looking at local development shops and companies, and it just really stood out to me and it looked like a really cool company to work with. I actually initially applied, but I ended up taking a different role there. Then once that job ended, I took a look at Bixly again and I’m like, “I want to see where they’re at.” So I applied again-

Cris:

See if they’re still around?

Tyler:

Yeah, and then, funny enough, I have the connections I grew from my last employer. They have connections here as well. It’s so funny how such a small world, and that’s when here we are.

Cris:

Yeah. You get into tech in The Valley and it’s a very large space, but also a small space, and you realize that everyone kind of knows everyone. So, that’s cool. You obviously design, then you pivoted over to doing the development side of stuff, a couple of different jobs. What are you seeing in tech right now that really excites you? Because, I know you’re a man of many languages, you’re always learning new stuff and talking to us about it, but what excites you in tech right now?

Tyler:

I think there’s too many to name. I’m more of a polyglot, I just, I like all the things. I think since I’ve taken on more of a dev ops role here at Bixly, I think I’m really getting into Docker. That’s something that really excites me and anything Linux pretty much. I know those are older technologies, but those technologies always excite me.

Cris:

Yeah, that’s good. I always joke, because we have obviously our internal chat group that we refer to as rocket science and we share information, and you like to always start world war three as we call it. Which is, any time someone posts something in there, you always have a hot take and an opinion on, usually the inverse of what they say. It always makes me laugh. What do you enjoy about Bixly? Being here? So you looked to work here, you worked elsewhere, you came back. Now you’ve been here for, obviously, a few years, what do you enjoy about Bixly and what do you feel that we’re good at as a company?

Tyler:

I think you guys are really good at your vetting process and bringing people on, because the people I work with day-to-day are very, very intelligent and-

Cris:

Yourself included.

Tyler:

Yeah, thank you. Yeah, I enjoy having deep conversations with them about stuff that we all know about and we can share knowledge with each other and I love it. Yeah.

Cris:

No, it’s good. So other than obviously spending your time here at Bixly, starting world war threes’ with people and maybe non-tech related stuff, do you have other hobbies? Things that you like to do outside of the office that you’re passionate about?

Tyler:

I’ve actually, ever since the pandemic started, getting into cooking a lot and that’s been a big passion of mine, particularly in the barbecue space. That’s been one of my hobbies. I like feeding my family too. It feels really good when family is like, “Man, this tastes really good.”-

Cris:

“This is really good barbecue.” That’s cool. So do you have a particular, sorry not to cut you off, do you have a particular dish that you tried your hand? You tried it out and you were like, “That didn’t go how I thought it was going to go,” or maybe one that you were like, “I don’t know if I can do this,” and then you actually did it?

Tyler:

I actually tried to make my own pasta once and I cut it too thick and I was like, “Yeah, this isn’t going to work out.”-

Cris:

“This isn’t going to work out.”

Tyler:

But the second time I did it, it came out a lot better. But I didn’t think I rolled it enough. Flattened it enough. But yeah, that was interesting.

Cris:

That’s cool. Well, it’s always fun when you’re passionate about something, and like you said, having people come over and share that passion with you and take pride in rolling your own pasta out and then being like, “Hey, it’s not like a cracker. It actually tastes like pasta.” Which is good. Well, that’s cool. Anything else, as you know we’re wrapping up here, that you maybe want to mention or talk about that you enjoy about Bixly? Or something that someone watching today could learn about you that might help them be interested in checking us out?

Tyler:

I think I covered everything.

Cris:

Cool. That’s awesome. Well, I appreciate you, Tyler. You’re super awesome. You are a great asset to the team and also just honestly a great guy to chat with. So thanks for coming into the studio with us and look forward to learning new stuff, obviously with the rest of the team, and seeing what else you can help bring to the team.

Tyler:

All right. Thanks for having me.

Cris:

Thank you.

Alexandra:

I hope you enjoyed this episode of Bixly Tech Tuesday, and you feel like you got to know Tyler a little bit better. For anybody who has him working on your project, we know that you know how fantastic he is. Don’t forget to check out the links down below in our description. You can find our custom software guide, which is completely free, and we’ll walk you through the journey of figuring out how to develop your own application. On top of that, you can check out our website, bixly.com. There’s even a button there where you can sign up for a free app validation meeting with Cris to talk about your app idea.