It's been awhile since we have highlighted some of our incredibly talented and hard working team members. We'd love for you to get to know us behind the scenes.
Hailing from Sonoma County, California, Dean grew up in the tiny town of Forestville (population 1000) and currently lives in beautiful Petaluma. He has degrees in Geographic Information Technology from Sonoma State University and Applied Graphics from Santa Rosa Junior College. He used to raise chickens. What is your role at WSD? As a production engineer, I'm responsible for the front-end development "“ transforming a design mockup into code that can be read by your web browser. This includes focusing on user experience, interactive elements / animations, and ensuring that our websites are compatible with a wide variety of devices. What is your most challenging daily task? Coming up with elegant, flexible solutions to website issues. What is your favorite daily task? Anything that is challenging or new! What do you consider the best possible working environment? Maybe a high-tech treehouse overlooking a Chilean fjord"¦ barring that, a nice, focused office with a talented, friendly team, like WSD! If you didn't have to work, how would you spend your day? Running/walking/hiking through forests and mountains. Playing guitar and upright bass. Kayaking. Cooking and brewing beer. Obsessing over maps. Travelling a lot. Favorite project you've worked on at WSD? I'm really proud of the work that the team here did on Fest300.com. It's a beautiful, informative site that required a lot of teamwork and coordination to execute. What is your greatest accomplishment outside of work? Helping found a music/art collective with my friends from the hinterlands and backwaters of Sonoma County. It was a really wonderful way to encourage creativity and collaboration. Mac or PC? PC, mostly because I love tinkering with hardware configurations and swapping computer parts"¦ But Macs are prettier! Favorite Sausalito lunch spot? It's actually a little outside of Sausalito "“ Sol Food, a Puerto Rican restaurant in Mill Valley and San Rafael. What website do you visit most often? Google/Wikipedia "“ I am often spontaneously compelled to learn as much as possible about things like gymnosperm biology, the topology of New Guinea or Basque grammar. Favorite quote? "You may say to yourself: "Well, how did I get here?" "• David Byrne
