I met Kim Crayton during my first few weeks at Hypepotamus (about a year and a half ago), and while a lot of driven people cross my path, few folks can match her enthusiasm for making it in this community. She has spent the last 18 months dedicated to cultivating the skills needed to create value in Atlanta’s tech scene and now this startup student is ready to spread her wings. Let her passion make an impact on your startup and in the process teach her something new to add to her growing repertoire.
Check out Kim’s story below and offer her something awesome as her first tech internship – kmcrayton7@yahoo.com
After years of hanging on the outer circle of the technology industry, I decided that being on the outside looking in was no longer good enough. It was at that point that I announced to all who might be interested that I was leaving Education to enter the “tech” industry. Although, at that time I had no idea what it would look like.
With all the excitement of a child on their first day of school, I dove head first into learning all I could about the technology field and where I might find my place. I attended conferences, workshops, and Meetups. I networked, I listened to pitches, and talked to anyone who was willing to share their insight. After months of seeking, the shotgun approach I’d been following began to narrow and a few themes started to emerge.
- User Experience Design (UX) provides an outlet for my design and research background.
- If I ever wanted to have the ability to act on any of my ideas I would have to learn to program/code. So I designed a self-paced, self-taught coding process for myself, which has its own unique set of challenges.
- At my heart, I am an educator and helping others learn is second nature to me. So it would be my pleasure to help others improve their technology literacy and become comfortable with the tools they use everyday.
What tech projects are you currently working on?
I’m working through the Coder Manual curriculum to teach myself the full web development stack: HTML, CSS, JavaScript, Ruby, and Ruby on Rails. I have been working with a mentor to develop my UX skills and working with OmniGraffle. I’m also a full-time graduate student pursuing a Doctor of Business Administration-Technology Entrepreneurship.
What are your best technical or creative skills?
My Interior Design, Training and Development and teaching background allows me to balance the form and function portions of projects.
Why the interest in startups?
I’ve always had an interest in creating, The continued advances in technology have placed the creation process in the hands of almost everyone.
What’s your ideal position?
My ideal position would be one in which I can continue to learn and put into practice my developing technology skills as well as share my years of experiences in helping the business to succeed.
When are you looking to start?
ASAP
[Photo Credit: Hypepotamus/Whitlock]
