There’s more growth happening at WebDevStudios. Bigger projects and more of them means we need additional talent. We recently brought in three new team members to add to our pool of knowledgeable experts. Let’s get to know them! Please meet our newest Project Manager, Daniel Lama, and our newest Lead Engineers, Darren Cooney and Krystal Metzler, who are all now a part of the WebDevStudios team.
Daniel Lama, Project Manager
For Daniel, acclimating to WebDevStudios (WDS) as a part of the project management team has been a fun transition. “I am impressed by the team at WDS—their positivity, inclusion, and eagerness to help,” reports Daniel. “I send a thousand messages that start with, ‘Random question…,’ and the responses are always quick, clear and super helpful.”
His role is primarily focused on supporting the delivery of our client projects by tracking progress, motivating team members, and uncovering the true needs of our partners. Daniel describes himself as a “professional renaissance man,” explaining that he is a jack-of-all-trades with a positive twist.
“I’m basically someone that can do many things with a reasonable level of skill,” he says, “The fact I find most things interesting leads me to learn and try everything I can. Managing projects allows me to do that. I have to think about budgets, schedules, strategy, client retention, team well-being, and even a little coding.”
Daniel is enjoying getting to know the team, how we communicate, and everyone’s skill sets. He says he’s looking forward to using his own skills to strengthen our team, increase client confidence, and building the best solutions. WDS already has a solid reputation, and Daniel will definitely be adding to that.
When he’s not managing website projects, Daniel lives an “endless summer” life and can be found in either Northern Virginia or Lima, Peru, depending on the time of year.
Darren Cooney, Lead Engineer
So far, Darren’s first few weeks at WDS have been great. He already had been working remotely, so the transition to our WordPress agency has been fairly seamless for him.
“What has stood out for me is how helpful everyone has been and how the entire engineering team is willing to work together to find solutions to problems others are having,” Darren says.
He loves all things WordPress and open-source, making him a fine fit for the WebDevStudios team. He focuses his time heavily on JavaScript and WordPress development where he builds and maintains various open-source plugins.
“The fact that anyone can go and build a WordPress plugin, release it for free on the plugin repository, and instantly have access to millions of potential users is pretty amazing,” explains Darren. “I find plugin development rewarding when I see the user base growing steadily, that usually indicates I’ve solved a pain point for other WordPress users and developers like myself.”
Darren is looking forward to digging into some code, learning the WDS development process, and working directly with the other engineers on his team to build and launch a project. WDS is looking forward to that, too!
Krystal Metzler, Lead Engineer
“I’ve worked remotely for the last four years, so working-from-home isn’t new to me,” Krystal says. In fact, she reports that because WebDevStudios is a 100% distributed WordPress agency she was attracted to apply to work here.
“This culture is only one of many signs of just how in-touch we are with the demands of the modern workforce,” she says. “In all my experience, WDS has the most active remotely working teams I’ve interacted with; everyone is passionate about what they do, and the company has created a culture for learning.”
Krystal’s career history is riveting. She started off in the medical field, working as a nurses’s aid, certified massage therapist, shiatsu practitioner, and aromatherapist. She continued her education, double majoring in psychology and pre-medicine, before finally falling in love with anthropology. Eventually, she found herself working as a developer and technology advisor in various environments and industries.
“I’ve always been interested in the brain, and in what makes people work,” Krystal explains, “My background enhances my experience as a developer because it makes me especially sensitive to user experience issues that come up in programming, and it’s always good to understand the changing relationship between technology and the user.”
Did you know we’re hiring? Interested in applying? Krystal has some insight to offer once you begin your career at WebDevStudios: “Study everything while you can and be open to exploring technologies that (at first glance) seem intimidating. You never know where your niche will be until you try.”
Be a new peep by joining our WebDevStudios team! Fill out an online job application today.
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