#AlumniSpotlight – Michael Marley
#AlumniSpotlight The Creative Circus graduates the most sought after creatives in the industry. Take a moment to read about the lives, careers & personal stories of some of our fantastic alumni.
Michael Marley
Creative Circus Alumnus – Interactive Development (2014)
Web Developer at The Weather Company
Portfolio
Advice to the graduating class:
Take your time while looking for a job. While exiting the circus it will be very exciting to be going out into the world with your new set of skills. Make sure to find a position that will challenge every single aspect of what you just learned. Find something just beyond your abilities and push yourself to thrive in that position.
Advice to the Incoming Class:
To developers- Learn javascript. Don’t just learn jQuery and call it a day. Learn vanilla js. Always write clean code. Always comment. Always take the time to set up a good workflow. Learn how to use command line (terminal for you silly mac users). Learn design principles. You’ll have a lot of input on UX/UI and web design. Take as many WordPress freelance jobs as you can handle. It’s a great source of extra income, and it’s super easy once you learn how to navigate a CMS.
Leave the development cave once in a while to get to know your classmates.
Lastly, listen to Chris. The dude knows his shit. Go to him for help and advice.
What do I wish I knew while at Circus:
How important javascript is as a front end developer. I cannot stress this enough.
What does Circus mean to me:
The Circus was a pivotal time in my life. I entered with no prior knowledge of writing code and left with a job as a developer. It’s been the most rewarding career I’ve had. I owe it all to the teachers, peers, and hard work I put in at the circus. I’ll never forget my time there.
Lightbulb moment for me while in school:
Orientation. I applied to the circus as a designer. While walking from classroom to classroom listening to different teachers from different departments give their speech on each aspect of the circus, the old head of development gave his. I decided that would be the path for me. I went back to the front office that day and switched to development. I couldn’t be happier with my decision.
Favorite project:
I’ve got two that really stick out. The first is dibs.duke.edu. It was my first project working with drupal. And it is a huge site. I had to learn a new CMS, learn how to manipulate a database through Ubuntu’s CLI, learn command line git, learn how to set up a proper local dev environment with virtual box’s, learn a little ruby to integrate Jenkins and Capistrano, and become a lot more familiar with PHP. As a learning experience, this project taught me more than any other.
The second is the work I’m doing now for IBM Watson’s creative lab’s department inside the weather company. The ad’s we are building change depending on the weather. We integrate the weather’s API to affect the ad itself. For example, if in a user is looking at weather.com while it’s raining outside, that ad will pull that data in and display a version that show’s a product in the rain. It’s really awesome to be a part of something that millions of people see a day. The team I work with is fantastic. And I couldn’t be happier with the products we produce.