Our Spotlight this time around shines right on our Director of Technology and beloved brainiac, Jim Powell. He has taken time out of his notoriously swamped schedge to answer a few questions, so listen up!
Name: Jim Powell
Nickname: Jim because that’s not my first name (nor is James)
Hometown: I’d have to say Earth… I’ve lived in Mississippi, Arizona, Texas, Small town in Germany, Large town in Germany, Colorado, and Florida.
Playlist: Begin psych eval: Epic & Shame
What do you do here?
The Director of Technology is an interesting position for me.
On the client-facing side of things, we all know there is never only one right way of approaching a technology project, but there are certainly a fair share of wrong ones. I balance client objectives, client requirements, talents of the team, budget, and timeline to make decisions on frameworks, platforms, hardware, etc for our projects. It’s not always a cut-and-dry thing and we always have to be ready to re-evaluate those decisions and make changes quickly and efficiently based on new info, new requirements, and the way technology evolves around us.
On the internal side, I represent the Engineering team in management meetings, maintain the internal IT infrastructure, and do what I can to keep Engineers from getting grumpy (you know how they can be…). I also jump in on development from time-to-time.
I’m not a 9-5 type of dude, and what I do here is, by no means, a 9-5 gig. I am generally one of the first in and often one of the last out. Oh, and I don’t think this is in my job description, but I love me some whiteboards and make ample use of the walls, windows, and doors of PRPL to draw arguably lovely diagrams, charts, and lists.
Was there any inspiration for your playlist?
Epic is playing when I’m deep in thought or development. It’s mostly movie and game soundtracks, so instrumental/driving background music to keep my mind-juices flowing (yuck, sorry).
I don’t want to talk about Shame .
What is your favorite industry website or blog for consuming news, trends, and opinions?
If you could pick two celebrities to be your parents, who would you choose?
Meryll Streep and Harrison Ford
So you think you can dance. When and how did that hobby start?
My ex-fiance (she’s my wife now) and I found a Groupon for ballroom dance classes a few months before our wedding so we decided to take it for a spin (dance pun). Before you knew it, we were sucked in and go to classes a few nights a week and perform at local showcases and balls together. Our favorite is the Tango.
Zildjian or Sabian?
Depends on the venue. Indoor/close quarters: use Sabian; brighter sound cuts through low vibrations of walls/ceilings. Outdoor/arenas: use Zildjian; darker undertones carry farther.
Tell us why you have such a crush on Drupal.
It’s a love-hate crush. Like a lot of frameworks, it can be hard to adopt and learn, but after you get over the hump, it’s really a very efficient tool for creating sites (and even applications). Do a Google Image Search for ‘drupal learning curve.’
Would you rather have legs as your fingers or fingers as your legs?
Fingers as my legs. Wheelchairs exist. Giant leg-sized keyboards do not (to my knowledge).
If you were some kind of technology or electronic device, what would you be and why?
An Ansible. The wife says I need to communicate better.
What song best describes your typical day at PRPL?
The Eye of Mahna (a mashup between Eye of the Tiger by Survivor and Mahna Mahna by the Muppets)
