Eagle Brosi Flies High as a Ruby Developer

Brosi is a new web developer

Eagle Brosi has flown the coop of his rural Appalachian Kentucky upbringing and found a cozy spot nestled in tech right here in Atlanta. As a ruby developer, Brosi is interested in working with API’s within a startup or company where tech is the bullseye of the business. He’s hoping to settle into a new gig as soon as possible, so catch him before he’s swooped up by someone else.

What program did you just complete?
I just finished Tech Talent South’s (TTS) full-time code immersion program. It was a really great and welcoming experience. As the youngest of seven children, growing up in rural Appalachian Kentucky, there have always been limits. TTS completely dismantled those limits. Not only do I believe myself to be a confident ruby developer but I also feel like a member of the Atlanta tech community.

What did you build during your time in the course?
Using the Sunlight Foundation API, I constructed an app for people interested in researching political donations. Users can pull data from all across America or can limit their searches by political party, donation amount, where the contribution came from (in or out-of-state), by the candidate, and/or the contributor. So a person could set parameters for donations over $100,000 to democrats from organizations in Georgia and see who was giving and receiving that amount and also a visualization of how much of a percentage that selection is as compared to donations across the state, donations to democrats, and political candidate.

What other past tech/creative projects have you worked on?
In 2013, I was employed by Giant Otter Technologies, an educational gaming company based out of Cambridge, to manage a pilot project in Eastern Kentucky and help build an artificial intelligence platform for an anti-bullying video game. I hired three very different young people, who like me, were living in the coalfields of central Appalachia (the highest educational level between them was a GED ) and we built a functional AI prototype. Giant Otter Technologies continues to have a presence in Whitesburg, KY and hopefully, I’ve helped progress a shift in thinking about possibilities.

What are your best technical or creative skills?
My culture is such a big part of me that it influences everything that I do. As an Appalachian, I expect myself to work hard and be generous to the people around me. If I’m stuck, I don’t shut down or hide, I’ll work for half-an-hour/forty-five minutes and then ask someone for help. If I don’t understand how something works, I’ll do what my papaw did with his International Harvester, I’ll take the thing apart and rebuild it four or five times until I’m an expert. I’m going to be one of the hardest and friendliest workers wherever I end up.

What’s next on your list to learn?
I want to learn more about Java and other “ancient” programming languages. Creating a good looking website can be easy but it’s important to me to understand the basis so that it’s something I can always pull from.

How do you stay informed & on top of emerging trends?
I think reading is a great way to stay informed and there are people who can read something and learn that way but I don’t usually
understand something unless I’m actually using, making, or implementing it. So I’m constantly constructing projects and there’s something in my brain that really enjoys complicating things. When I get stuck, I go online and learn how to further complicate my project.

What’s your ideal internship/job?
I’m absolutely in love with calling API’s, I think it’s the coolest thing imaginable, so I want to do that professionally. I’d really like to be at a place that looked and manipulated statistical data, a place where tech was the bullseye of the business, not something on the side or something that could be pushed to the side. I’m ready to start immediately.