Music to Code By: Meet Daniel J. Dufour, Front End Developer
Once again, we return to our Code.gov series where you meet members of our team through a personal playlist. While we call this series “Music to Code By” it turns out there are some on our team that do not work to music, at least not exclusively. Our team member featured today — Daniel J. Dufour, the Front-End Developer of Code.gov — is such a coder. Daniel doesn’t always listen to music when he codes, but when he does, tends to go with songs that make it difficult to sit still. You see, Daniel is big on the toe-tappers. He listens to a mix of Amr Diab, 80’s music and video game music, perfect for those Saturday mornings when you’re at home alone and sitting down for a long coding session or if you have a long walk from a Metro stop to the GSA building.
“If I am going to listen to something when I code, I will usually pop on ‘Like a Prayer’ by Madonna. Jump starts my coding session better. Fun fact about me: I’m physically incapable of not dancing to this song.” His listening habits are deeply rooted in the Eighties or what Daniel would refer to as retro (unlike Code.gov’s Comms Chief who would call it ‘his childhood’).
Previous playlists have followed trends, but Daniel’s tends to be less about a specific genre and more about the mood he needs to get the job done. “If I need to get a kick start on things while waiting for my morning coffee to kick in, that’s when I go with old and new favorites like ‘Call on Me,’ ‘Conga,’ or ‘All Night Long’ so I can get moving and shaking.” On those occasions when the code tends to be more challenging, he turns to something more epic. “In a single word — Halo. If you’re going to have an epic space game, you got to have an epic soundtrack to go with it. That and the theme from Battlefield 1942 keep me on the mission. Then, if I need a moment, I go with ‘Concerning Hobbits’ from Lord of the Rings. It’s a nice and peaceful song, good for when you need to concentrate and are deep in Mordor, err, I mean dependency hell.”
Here you go. Get to know Daniel Dufour through his eclectic Music to Code By:
And in the spirit of open source, this playlist has been made to be collaborative. What would you like to add to Daniel’s playlist? Feel free to contribute! #CodeOn and thanks for listening.
