Colin Devroe Interview
Jun 28, 08:59 PM by Marko
Interivew with Colin Devroe at cdevroe.com
Marko: Hi Colin !
Colin:
I see that everyone else says Hi. Marko! back. I think I’ll be different and say nothing in return. Oh wait, I already did.
Marko: For our readers could you tell something about yourself? (year old and other stuff)
Colin: Sure. I’ll be turning 27 in September and I’m currently the Community Evangelist for Viddler, a video-sharing site, and I live in north eastern Pennsylvania with my wife Eliza and our two cats.
Marko: How are you doing these days?
Colin: I’m doing very well. I love Pennsylvania in the summer (its the winters that I despise). Being active and being able to get outdoors is great. That and I really love my job and family life, and my health is good. Not sure I could ask for anything else.
Marko: When did you first encounter a keyboard or computer?
Colin: I suppose you could say that it started back when I was playing around on my brother’s Commodore – but in reality tech didn’t take root with me until I was around 14. It was then that I got my first computer of my own, I think it was a 200MMX processor or something, and I got online for the very first time shortly after that. Since then, I’ve been rather smitten.
Marko: What is your favorite art work /website!?
Colin: Hmm, interesting question. My taste in art is vast and to narrow it down would be very difficult. I enjoy the simplicity of watercolors very much, and I’ve even tried my hands at it a few times. I’m no artist, but I appreciate good work.
My favorite Web site probably changes with the wind. Every day we’re seeing millions of new sites pop up, all of them having something to offer. I’d guess that my most recent favorite site, besides Viddler of course, would be Ma.gnolia. I’ve written an overview on my site about my thoughts of Ma.gnolia.
Marko: When you launched cdevroe.com are you happy with the result of the site?
Colin: I actually received the domain from my friend in Costa Rica, Josue Salazar, as a gift. I’ve never really had any goals for my personal site, I’ve just let everything happen fairly naturally.
Marko: What do you do in your spare time ?
Colin: My favorite things to do include playing basketball and ultimate frisbee. Although much of my time is spent behind a computer I like getting outdoors when I can.
Marko: Do you have a favorite drink? How much of it do you drink?
Colin: The problem is; I have too many! I’m definitely a wino. Not in the literal sense (ie. one who drinks excessive amounts of cheap wine, or homeless), but I really love a good bottle of wine. I don’t think I have a current favorite, I think it has much to do with environment, mood, and perhaps the food I’m having at the time. Oh, and Jack Daniel’s will forever have a special place on my list of favorite drinks.
Marko: Would you care to give us a brief overview of what a typical day is like for you ?
Colin: I guess I’ve never really thought about how I would describe what it is I do day-to-day. But I’ll try. I am typically awake around 7am and immediately start my Macbook and the coffee pot. In that order. Unless otherwise distracted I jump right into my email and try to respond to every email I had gotten since the night before. Not being very popular helps this part of my process. :)
Then, I will generally see “what’s up” on Viddler.com. Every day Viddler share tons of videos with me and I try to watch each and every one and even comment on them. Then, I’ll look at the Viddlers that have recently signed up and send them all a note thanking them for doing so and letting them know I’m here to help them.
The same goes for the Viddler forums. I log in, see if there is anything pressing and either answer it, add it to our Trac system, or forward it to someone on the Viddler team that can help solve the issue.
By this time it is typically mid-morning or heading towards lunch – and this is where my “routine” goes right out of the window. No afternoon is ever the same for me. I’m either helping new Viddlers get their accounts or videos in order, featuring a video on the Viddler blog, recording an episode of ViddlerTV or a MeToday video, or explaining to a person or company why Viddler is the right solution for them. This is the part of my day that keeps me coming back for more because it is always different, always challenging, and always rewarding.
Marko: I am always wondering how people such as yourself go about getting work? How do you do it?
Colin: It is no secret that word-of-mouth is the best way to “get work”. And for much of my career it was primary means of getting contracts. But, when my enthusiasm towards programming had begun to dwindle (or, more specifically, programming for “clients”) – my work began to suffer. So, I decided a change of pace was needed and I needed to get back to something I truly enjoyed for me to be successful. So I went after the job I wanted.
Although word-of-mouth is a great way to keep busy actively seeking projects that interest you, if even by force, is definitely the clear path to happiness.
Marko: Who are some of your biggest influences?
Colin: Boy if timed allowed this list would be very long. As of today my main focus is on communities and how their structured, built, and maintained – so my most recent influences include Heather Champ of Flickr, and Tara Hunt and Chris Messina of Citizen Agency.
A side note though is that I’m currently reading Everything is Miscellaneous by David Weinberger and I have to say that he has continued to be an influence on me, for many years now, regarding the thought of my own knowledge and how I classify and approach things. It was through him that I became interested in folksonomies and tagging in general which has given me real pleasure when working with technology to help them people classify their information.
From the programming end of things I can’t possibly leave out my ex-coworker and friend Mike Bigus who has a very deliberate and focused approach to programming. Nothing was out of the question, nothing was impossible, nothing was ever rushed. It is something I’m still working on down to this day and I’ll probably always aspire to be as good as him.
Marko: Is your background in design? What was the progression into web development like?
Colin: Although my background is not in design I’ve always felt I’ve had an eye for it. Perhaps this relates to my love for art but yet having an apparent lack of any type of artistic talent. My father is an artist which probably gave me a respect for good art work – and such is the same with design in general. I can recognize good design a mile away, but pulling it off on my own has always been one of my life’s biggest challenges.
Marko: If you where not a designer/programmer what would you be?
Colin: I think I could have made for a fairly good entrepreneur, but I think my life has lead me away from being able to do something like that. If you completely remove technology from the picture, I could see myself doing something outdoors like being a park ranger or, better yet – owning a tshirt shop on an island in the Caribbean.
Marko: How do you like our site mcville.net?
Colin: I’ve always found the interviews done on mcville to be a nice insight into the minds and worlds of those interviewed. A few of my friends have been interviewed so I’d be remiss not to mention them all: Lea Alcantara, Nathan Smith, Jeremy Keith, Scott Boms, Kyle Neath, Matt Brett, D. Keith Robinson, Jonathan Snook, Mike Stickel, Dan Rubin, Jeff Smith, James Mathias, Andy Budd, David Seah, Jeff Croft, and Luke Dorny. Looking back at it now, I could have linked to your entire archive!
Marko: What kind of music do you fancy?
Colin: To pull from my PHP background: if ($music['genre'] != 'country') { $colin = 'happy'; }
Marko: What’s your favorite food?
Colin: Food. My favorite food is definitely food. You see Marko, I have a problem and it is called loving food. Perhaps you’ve seen my diet? Anyways – suffice to say that I’ll eat, and enjoy, just about anything.
Marko: Where do you get out on Saturday’s?
Colin: Like I said, I love basketball and ultimate frisbee. On the weekend, in the summer especially, I try to get outside and do something active. Although it seems like every weekend during the summer is jammed packed full of activities like parties, graduations, wedding, events, etc.
some relaxing question to follow
Marko: Chinese or Thai (food)?
Colin: Chickity China.
Marko: Coke or Pepsi?
Colin: cough Dr. Pepper cough. Actually, I enjoy Diet Dr. Thunder from Walmart the most. .50 per 2-litre!
Marko: HTML or CSS?
Colin: While CSS is awesome in its cascading and reusable code way, I just can’t get enough of that semantic HTML stuff.
Marko: Do you watch television? If so, do you have a favorite show?
Colin: My favorite show that is currently running is definitely LOST. I’ve been hooked since the first season and while I’ve had a few momentarily lapses of faith, like Locke, I’m back on track and loving it.
Marko:What OS do you use ?
Colin: I was a Windows user from 1994 until 2001-2002. But now I run a Macintosh OS-only house hold.
Marko: What would we find in your favorites bookmarks-bar?
Colin: Well, I’ve fired up Skitch to show you! Here is my current bookmarks bar. The +m and Roots bookmarks are actually bookmarklets for interacting with Ma.gnolia. My personal folder has links to all of the Web services that I use as well as the administration sections for my blogs, etc. ChanceCube is nearly same except for business related services. And, of course, the Viddler bookmarks folder is filled with most of the locations on Viddler that I frequent including links to the admin, Trac system, development servers, etc. Pretty much any of the pages that I absolutely must visit many times each day.
Oh, and I use Camino which now, like Firefox, has shortcuts for each bookmark. So, I type ‘wpcolin’ into the location bar and hitting enter will bring me to my Wordpress administration panel. Pretty slick.
Marko: What inspires you? This doesn’t have to be design related.
Colin: After events like South by Southwest you always hear of people returning to their respective cities pumped to GTD or even branch off into something new and exciting. There is a reason for that. Active community. Inspiration, for me, comes from an active community of people with similar interests to my own.
Marko: Thank you for having this interview Colin ,cheers!
Colin: I appreciate you asking me to do the interview! Thanks!
*Photo by Chris Tingom
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Hi Colin,
How are you doing? This is Hari from India
good interview.. nice site