Hi, my name's Curtis Blackwell and I like 🐐 goats 🐐.
I also build software for the web and got started in 2007. Now-simple tasks like adding drop shadows looked a lot different back then. It meant we had to create images in Photoshop then slice, export, and `background-repeat` 1px × ~10px PNGs for each side and corner back then. No fancy `box-shadow` luxury for us in the twilight years of that saucy HTML4 + CSS2 gloss.
Lately I've taken on more leadership roles in my work. Since joining Highland in January 2018, I:
I also build software for the web and got started in 2007. Now-simple tasks like adding drop shadows looked a lot different back then. It meant we had to create images in Photoshop then slice, export, and `background-repeat` 1px × ~10px PNGs for each side and corner back then. No fancy `box-shadow` luxury for us in the twilight years of that saucy HTML4 + CSS2 gloss.
Lately I've taken on more leadership roles in my work. Since joining Highland in January 2018, I:
- got an established dev team to learn and embrace Laravel's and Vue's conventions,
- created a framework for collaboratively defining development standards,
- organized a biweekly, all-dev meeting where we conspire to make our work better,
- mentored other developers,
- led a team in using Shape Up to unanimous delight,
- supported my product manager in her work using Thinking in Services to uncover and solve for gaps in a complex project (I'm convinced Thinking in Services is the next big thing in strategy and service design), and
- helped co-workers get a DEI working group off the ground (and kept it alive after they took new jobs elsewhere).
A unique blend of empathy, insightful criticism, a low tolerance for unpleasant working experiences, and the tenacity to improve my environment and the surrounding ecosystem make me an invaluable team member.
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Outside of work, I enjoy casual and strategy gaming, listening to and making music, mixing and drinking cocktails, and going for meandering walks with my partner.
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