About Me
Hey there, I’m Tim. I’ve been building and designing for the Web since… oh my… 2004 when I got my first job creating sites for a small community college in Virginia. Since then I’ve led great teams at companies like: Ad Hoc, 10up, Fresh Tilled Soil, Boston University, University of Southern California, and NC State. I’ve done every job from designing & coding to directing teams and organizational leadership.
One of my great passions has always been teaching and giving back to the community. During my career I have enjoyed sharing knowledge through writing, speaking, event organization, mentorship, and even hosting my own Podcast called, The Dirt.
Writing
My writing has been featured on sites such as: A List Apart, Smashing Magazine, InformIT, and SitePoint. On topics ranging from basic UX to advanced JavaScript APIs. In 2012 I also wrote my first book called, Learning JavaScript.
I believe openness and sharing are very important to moving this industry forward. Writing for large publications takes a lot of time, so when I have something fun to share, but I'm short on time, you can either catch me sending out articles on Twitter or writing up small tutorials on my blog.
Speaking
Although I love stepping on stage, my general rule with speaking at events is that: if I have something important to say, I’ll gladly speak about it, if not, I’ll happily step aside and let someone else share.
So far, I’ve been lucky enough to speak at great events like: Revolve Conference, Gilbane, Future of Web Design, The Ultimate Developer Event, Future Insights Live, The Wharton UI Conference, along with many more local meet ups around Boston and LA.
I was also fortunate enough to spend a couple semesters teaching Web Design night classes at Boston University Center for Digital Imaging Arts (one of the favorite things I’ve done with my career to date and I hope to do again one day).
Event Organization
Local community involvement and networking are very important to building up individuals within an industry. I have been heavily involved in organizing events for Global Accessibility Awareness Day (which included a video interview series), Refresh Boston, and Experience Dev (a UX conference aimed at developers).
Organizing and marketing events is tiring work, but I also find it incredibly rewarding to watch connections being made, careers started, and knowledge shared. If I’m not organizing events I try hard to attend anything local to make sure I stay active in the community.
Podcasting
Hosting over 160 episodes of The Dirt was the most fun I ever had professionally. I got to conduct in-depth interviews with industry legends like: Nir Eyal, Sarah Horton, Aaron Draplin, Lara Hogan, Jeremy Keith, Brad Frost, and many many more.
The information I was able to share on that platform, friends I made, and great times we all had, made a lasting impression on my career, personality, and taught me things I will never forget. I greatly look forward to the next opportunity I have to restart my podcast career and reapply all the knowledge I gained to the next adventure.
Well, that’s me in a nutshell. I build and design stuff, share with people, enjoy mentoring, and geek out about typography, accessibility, and web performance.
Please feel free to shoot me an email if you want to chat about a project or event!
– Tim