Team Questions & Answers

1. What are some of the best programmer tips/tricks you have learned?

Garrett Dengler

Keep it simple. If you find yourself writing spaghetti code, take a step back and make sure you aren't overlooking a simpler solution to the problem. Your future self will thank you.

Hayden Grindstaff

Try to make your code as foolproof as reasonable. Ask lots of, "what ifs." You would be surprised how often your code isn't really being used like you thought it would and it will save a ton of back and forth in the long run.

Scott Caudle

Break things down into steps. Although some things can be super daunting when looking at it from a birds eye view, I've found that breaking things down into manageable steps really helps me conceptualize what needs to be done and how I can accomplish it.

Matt Giebeig

A.B.L. - Always be learnin'. The development landscape evolves so fast that you always need to be on your toes for changes that can improve your code and productivity. Make time for learning, even if it cuts into personal time. Also, the find and replace tool in VScode can save you a huge amount of time and stress.

2. Tell us about a personal project you've always wanted to make.

Garrett Dengler

I've always wanted to make a Cards Against Humanity clone to play with friends online. I've finally made significant progress on it and hope to share it soon.

Hayden Grindstaff

I have been wanting to make a Dungeons & Dragons web app. It would basically be a companion app that allows you to create and manage your characters, manage inventory, look up spell and item descriptions - basically everything you would need to play the game.

Scott Caudle

A web app for my home garden, specifically for monitoring/watering purposes. I've always been really into sensors and data when it comes to monitoring physical things. Tying that into nature would be really cool! One step further would be monitoring for my home...but we'll stick with the garden for now.

Matt Giebeig

Similar to Hayden, a character creation app for the Dungeons & Dragons-like game called "Starfinder" (I've started, but finishing is a monumental task, as there are several hundreds of pages in the rule books to program in).

3. When you were a kid, what did you want to be when you grew up and why?

Garrett Dengler

I wanted to be a video game designer. I actually went through some of the courses for graphic design and simulation/game design in community college but found I'm way better at writing code.

Hayden Grindstaff

A video game tester. The idea of being payed to play video games all day was like a dream to me. Now that I've learned a little more about the gaming industry, specifically QA roles, it's honestly much less appealing to me. I think I would go crazy if the game I was trying to enjoy kept breaking and I had to try recreating the issue over and over and over.

Scott Caudle

An astronaut...but I would never be able to pass the High-G training. I still try to play my part as a citizen scientist though!

Matt Giebeig

A baseball player, because playing sports all day for lots of money has quite the appeal. When that looked impractical I eventually came around to wanting to be a web developer, and after a short detour through marketing, SEO, and account management, I found my way there.

1. What inspired you to choose design as your career path?

Luis Costales

My initial interest was in studio art and I had a passion for painting, pastels, and clay. That eventually led to applying that love of art to digital experiences.

Morgan Bailey

Growing up I was always very visual and creative. I appreciated good design around me and I naturally had a talent for art. That then turned into realizing I could use design to change how people receive and interact with information.

Sophie Van Dyne

Art has always been my passion in life, but ultimately, my favorite college professor Dan Elliot is who I have to thank for helping me find my true calling – graphic design. I always thought design was all about being on your computer, but he taught me that design takes a lot more critical thinking and planning and from then on I was hooked.

Melody Songer

People, problem-solving and art! I’ve always loved making art in any medium, but to empathize with others and come up with creative approaches to solve their problems and build their businesses – everything I love truly came full-circle!

2. What is your favorite source for creative inspiration?

Luis Costales

The Atypic Team around me.

Morgan Bailey

My biggest source of creative inspiration is other designers. I love admiring and dissecting other people's work and learning how I can adapt those decision decisions and inspiration to my own work.

Sophie Van Dyne

While I get inspiration everyday from other designs / designers, I'd have to say my biggest source of inspiration is my design team. I love watching them create amazing work and it inspires me and pushes me to explore new ideas and design outside of my comfort zone.

Melody Songer

The outside world! Everywhere I go I’m always observing / absorbing the art around me. Sometimes it’s subconscious, but mostly it’s second nature. Whether it’s signage while shopping, scanning restaurant menus when I should be looking for something to eat or being in nature to free my mind entirely – it’s here where I collect my thoughts and ideas most.

3. When you were a kid, what did you want to be when you grew up and why?

Luis Costales

Marine Biologist. I had a great book on the French naval officer, Jacques Cousteau. Jacques was an explorer, conservationist, filmmaker, innovator, scientist, photographer, author, and researcher who studied the sea and all forms of life in water. This created a lifelong obsession with aquatic life!

Morgan Bailey

My mom always tells me the story of how when I was 5 years old, I told everyone I wanted to design the next "Nike swoosh." I guess I always wanted to be a designer, I just didn't realize it!

Sophie Van Dyne

For career day in Kindergarten, I insisted on dressing up as a cheerleader – which is pretty funny because if you know me at all you’d know I’m not really one to rally a crowd. Let’s just say I’m grateful for my career as a designer and glad I strayed outside of my kindergarten dream job.

Melody Songer

A veterinarian-performer extraordinaire! I’ve always had a deep compassion and connection with animals – and I couldn’t think of a better way to spend everyday than helping them. Most of my childhood I also spent making up songs, dances and participating in shows and productions. I really loved making people smile and laugh, which hasn’t changed a bit!

1. What is one metric you think is most important to monitor and compare each month?

Fergus Horner

Unique pageviews. Reason being, It's easy to assume a page receives a lot of traffic but if you look at all pageviews, it could be a visitor navigating back to the same page multiple times during their site session skewing how well a page is actually doing.

Jacqueline Glenwright

Organic entrances to the website. I believe this is the most concrete metric we can use to track how pages that have been optimized are successful at, not only ranking on Google, but winning those click thrus in the SERP against competitors.

Ashley Meyer

Like Fergus, I also think that the most important metric to monitor and compare each month is unique pageviews.  It is important to be able to compare the unique pageviews month after month to have a better understanding of how many users are viewing a page in order to figure out what can be done to increase those unique pageviews going forward.

2. What do you consider the most rewarding part of your job?

Fergus Horner

Personally I think the most rewarding part of the job is our relationship with our clients. When a client fully trust and believes in you and the achievements you accomplish together as a cohesive team, back it! Not going to lie, it's hard to read this without a smile on my face!

Jacqueline Glenwright

Seeing the impact SEO can actually have on a company's success. It's incredibly rewarding to see how just a few calculated optimizations on my end can skyrocket a brand's web visibility, traffic, and leads.

Ashley Meyer

The most rewarding part of our job is being able to help our clients and actually being able to show them the progress that has been made month after month.

3. When you were a kid, what did you want to be when you grew up and why?

Fergus Horner

I always wanted to be a top secret CIA agent. As a kid it was mostly due to the movies and TV shows that would highlight the exciting parts of the role. Fast forward to adulthood, I still find it very intriguing even though what I originally loved about the role makes up a mere 5% of the job...from "what we are lead to think."

Jacqueline Glenwright

A musical theater actress. Theater was my life as a kid and singing, acting, and dancing gave me an inexplicable amount of energy and joy.

Ashley Meyer

When I was probably around the age of 6 I wanted to be an actress but then I went to acting camp and quickly realized that I was awful at acting. Around the age of 8 and after two years of acting summer camp fails I decided I wanted to be a therapist in order to help others. It is interesting to see where I am now compared to what I thought I would be doing. Still helping others but in a different way!

1. What are your best organizational tips?

Megan McHugh

Write it down! Make a daily to-do list and prioritize the hardest task first - even if you just chip away a portion of it.

Jason Mills

Never rely on needing to remember important details. If you establish processes to organize and document these details you'll free up mental bandwidth to think more strategically and creatively.

Jamie DelGrosso

Make Google Calendar your right-hand man. I used a paper calendar for the longest time, but making the transition to a calendar that's accessible anywhere anytime has made the world of a difference when it comes to organization.

Yana Fleyer

Don’t try to work on everything at once, focus on what’s most important. Use calendars/planners. I prefer Google calendar on my phone as I have it with me at all times. Use time wisely - plan ahead.

2. What is a positive client interaction that sticks out to you?

Megan McHugh

Building long-lasting partnerships with our clients where there's a true partnership is so fulfilling. Some of our best client relationships are a result of mutual trust and respect and those are always the best interactions.

Jason Mills

Any time a client communicates that our partnership has aided their growth or success means a lot. We strive to be trusted partners to all of our clients and always have our sights set on making a positive impact on our clients' clients. When we hear that straight from the source, it really validates the work that we do.

Jamie DelGrosso

I think it's neat to see and hear excited, positive reactions from clients when presenting them projects our team has worked really hard to achieve. It's a rewarding feeling when you can tell that a client appreciates the dedicated work on our end.

Yana Fleyer

I would say building trust between clients, assuring that they trust you and trust the process you choose. Asking for and working on a client’s feedback. It shows that they care, they are involved and this transparent partnership will pay off in the end.

3. When you were a kid, what did you want to be when you grew up and why?

Megan McHugh

A teacher. I loved the organization, planning and creativity of pretending to be a teacher to my younger sisters.

Jason Mills

A cartoonist. As a kid, I remember seeing "behind the scenes" clips from Disney or Nickelodeon studios and admiring the culture of fun they lived and worked within.

Jamie DelGrosso

I wanted to work in the healthcare field because I wanted to help people, but as I grew up, I realized there are so many more ways to help people – including careers in marketing and communications!

Yana Fleyer

I wanted to be a hairdresser. I learned how to do different types of braids/hairstyles very early and loved to experiment on my mom and myself. My kindergarten teacher didn’t believe I did my own hair every morning. I also wanted to be a professional tennis player, win the Wimbledon, and buy myself Lays chips factory (no judging, I was only allowed to eat chips once a month).