If you ever get one these 5 Chingus on your team, you just hit the remote dev jackpot
And why you want them on your team
Below are examples of excellent team-mates who deserve to be applauded. There are many more who deserve to be in this article. This will likely be a series of sorts, so stay tuned.
Sarah (@rifkegribenes)
Country: USA
Admirable traits: dependable, highly professional, kind, excellent communicator, gets stuff done
In short: if Sarah is on your team and you put in the effort, you’re likely to have a quality project in your portfolio. Not only is she a skilled graphic designer, but she’s also a consistent communicator, tenacious coder, and has a bias for getting stuff done.
She’s currently finishing up Chingu’s first nonprofit project for an Italian blood donor clinic with Jay Ullman, as well as in the latter stages of what might be the most ambitious Build-to-Learn project to date.
If you ever land on a team with Sarah, here is the appropriate reaction:
Daniel Segovia (@dsegovia90)
Country: Mexico
Admirable traits: calm kindness, highly adaptable, top-notch people skills, flat-out ships projects.
Daniel is 3 for 3 in completing build-to-learn projects, and in each project he adapted to whatever the project needed to be finished. I can’t adequately express how valuable of a trait that is to have in a team-mate.
The first project his team-mates disappeared and he put the entire project on his back and finished it himself (if you’re in the current Voyage, you’ve probably seen the immensely popular team-name generator bot, Temere, that’s the project he made).
The second project was the awesome pair-programming bot, which he built with Abigail (agathalynn). He also goes to bat for his team-mates. I once talked with Dan about an ambitious project and he flat out said “If I were to choose a team, I would try my hardest to get Abigail on it.”
The third project he was a PM and took on a more mentorship role, and of course the project was completed and is awesome (shoutout to JD Richards b/c he really shined on this project).
Dan is working on another ambitious project now and like all projects he takes on, it will be finished. And then he will undoubtedly get a dev job (if he wants one), so sadly for future Chingus, you may not get the opportunity to work with Dan for awhile.
But if you do, here is a reasonable reaction:
Periklis (@periman)
Admirable traits: kind leader, patience, optimism, infectious curiosity, goes on wild learning adventures
Country: Greece
Whenever writing about Periman, I have trouble not sounding hyperbolic. He’s that good. He has helped so many people in the cohorts, whether it be inspiring others with his ambitious projects, being a Project Manager for teams that ship, or helping with code or job advice.
When you ask past team-mates about Periman, there’s often a sort of emotional-quality to their response.
They might talk about a time when held a meeting at a time that was convenient for his team (but 2am his time).
They might mention long talks about wide-ranging topics, both programming-related and life-related.
They might talk about hours he spent patiently helping them with coding challenges.
Unwavering positivity and an infectious curiosity — that’s Periman in a few words. But I’ll leave a direct message Periman sent me not too long ago that’ll give you a better sense of why he deserves to be in this article.
“I started since last month doing private lessons to a few chingu members that don’t know js well yet . Since I don’t have time for chingu projects ( I have 2 huge enterprise ones on my back at work). So I thought I would invest some time this way. Should I open a channel for people willing to invest time in the same way I do ? Do you know if there are any here in Chingu?”
p.s. Periman’s signed up for Voyage-2…
Nat (@nat)
Admirable traits: passionate coder, incredible energy, tireless work ethic, takes pride in her work, commitment to shipping
Country: Russia
Nat is the kind of person who when she joins a project, she goes all in for her team.
Nat is the kind of team-mate that will push you to get you out of your comfort zone (which is here real developer growth happens).
You’ll also likely get a real sense of what it feels like to work in a professional software team. Bi-weekly check-ins, github etiquette, individual code reviews before merging (which she personally spends extra hours doing to help her team-mates improve).
I have learned so much from her and she is single-handedly setting the tone and pace for what a Build-to-Learn team should look like. Her commitment is inspiring and if you’re lucky enough to have her on your team, the only reaction that makes sense is this:
Kim (@kimkwanka)
Country: Germany
Admirable traits: dependable, fun, will challenge you, harasses Jim (;p)
Kim is a magician — simple as that. I have written about Kim before and I will write about Kim in the future. She’s just that kind of team-mate, developer and person.
Kim can join even a faltering team and instantly change the dynamic with her work ethic. She brings a perfect storm to any team she is on: humour, a remarkable curiosity, and an unwavering bias to get in the editor and code.
Ask anyone on the DevGaido team (and likely anyone who has been on a team with her), they’ll tell you how unlikely it is to be able to find a better team-mate.
Kim’s working on the massive DevGaido project, so you aren’t likely to work with her unless you work on that, but if it ever does happen here is the only appropriate response:
