Brad Robertson
Ruby on Rails is my current web development framework of choice. I owe the push into Rails to one of my favourite developers I’ve worked with, Brad Robertson.
Brad joined our team at Zerofootprint when the product we were inheriting was based on Ruby on Rails. It was a fledgling framework on a programming language out of Japan, Ruby, I had never heard of. I was skeptical of adopting something I hadn’t really heard of and especially a loosely typed, interpreted language like Ruby. Surely this isn’t for serious companies. Surely this won’t do for Zerofootprint. We forged ahead to rebuild version 2.0 on Java but I was oh so wrong.
Brad is exceptionally outgoing and well rounded for a developer. I could tell once we started working together that not only was he extremely competent at his work but that he was going to be excellent at aligning the product development with business strategy. Brad is extremely personable and was a team leader from day one.
In the case of this new programming language, Brad was either already studying Ruby on Rails or quickly got up to speed on it. He took the time to figure out the advantages of this new language and described to me the advantages a dynamically typed language could bring. I remember seeing a Ruby on Rails book focused on meta-programming on Brad’s desk. Where I failed to see new opportunities in a language and framework I was unfamiliar with Brad was diligent in exploring its advantages.
Brad’s competence with development is only matched by his ability to work with and lead teams. He possesses the interpersonal skills that so many software developers, myself included, struggle with. He was always able to articulate the challenges we faced and find a solution.
Brad wasn’t going to stay with Zerofootprint forever. He was destined to lead teams and eventually moved on to Influitive as a Principal Engineer and now Irwin where he leads as CTO. Brad continues to be an example of continuous learning, networking and leadership. If I had to pick a dream team to build new product, Brad would be one of the all stars. That’s why he’s on #My52.
LinkedIn: /brad-robertson-a181a122
