Looking for a local, talented developer to complete your team? Josh Kushner is your guy. He just finished the web development course at General Assembly, and with a background in marketing and project management, he’s sure to bring a wealth of experience and necessary skills to any company. Check out his background & interests below.
What projects have you worked on during the course?
I have worked on three separate apps during my time at General Assembly. Each one was a week long sprint. While getting used to Rails, I created CollegePros. The app allows users to keep tabs on their favorite football players from their alma mater as they entered the NFL. My second project, Kaboodle, focused on crowd sourcing marketing and PR events for businesses. The application was created in Rails, but I built an AngularJS app inside the Rails framework to create a seamless experience in navigating the site.
My favorite and last project, Crave, was built in collaboration with two classmates. We put long hours into the look and feel of the app, and it really paid off. It’s an ultra-flash sales site: instead of having 24 hours to decide to buy $400 golf clubs on sale, you have 20 seconds to purchase items under $50. We used D3 to show the rate of purchases for certain items in a visually appealing way. We then added slide functionality with jQuery so users can slide an item left or right to make their decision. We wanted to create a highly-functional, professional site, and I believe we succeeded.
What are your best technical and/or creative skills?
In terms of tangible skills, we covered Ruby on Rails, AngularJS, PostgreSQL, Javascript, HTML/CSS3, Bootstrap, and a few other languages.
In terms of intangibles, I really enjoy writing code because it’s always a challenge. I’m always learning new things, and I feel like I can pick up concepts fast. I’ve always enjoyed teaching myself new musical instruments. So far, I’ve taught myself guitar and drums. Development is sort of like picking up a new instrument. There’s definitely a lot to learn.
What’s next on your list to learn?
I would really like to learn more about D3 (Data-Driven Documents). It’s a really great way to visualize data in beautifully designed graphs, maps, and charts.
I’m also interested in refining my skills in Rails and AngularJS. They are extremely comprehensive frameworks and I’d like to create more apps using them in the near future.
What’s your ideal internship/job?
A place where I can learn. At this point in my career, I want to grow as a programmer in skill and knowledge. I also want to feel dedicated to the company’s cause and mission. Everything else comes second.
Interested in startups?
I’ve worked at a few startups in the past, and I love being around that type of energy. It’s always exciting at a startup and I’m definitely interested in those types of opportunities.
Post graduation plans?
I plan to keep working on new projects, refining my Rails and AngularJS skills, and looking for a full-time or internship opportunity in a place where I can grow as a developer.
