Alumni Spotlight: Ryan Hendrickson talks life as a web developer at SiteCrafting
Meet Ryan Hendrickson. After completing his bachelor’s degree in Software Development at Green River College, Ryan joined Tacoma-based SiteCrafting as a web developer. In the short Q & A below, he talks more about this role and offers tips for college students looking to break into tech.
What led you to Green River’s Software Development program?
RYAN: I originally enrolled in Green River back in 2014 but had to leave in 2015 due to life happening. While there, I was enrolled in the networking degree, but had become friends with a couple people who had transitioned to the software development program, and I even sat in on a couple of their classes. Once life had settled down I went back in the summer of 2018 and decided on the software development program because I enjoyed what I knew of programming, and wanted to pursue it as a career.
What is your job title at SiteCrafting? And can you briefly describe your role?
RYAN: My job title at SiteCrafting is Web Developer. I was originally hired to work on .NET sites but since it’s a small company, and because SiteCrafting is mostly a PHP shop, I’ve since expanded to working on PHP sites, writing tests with Cypress, Webpack configurations, and am now learning Nginx.
What is the culture like at SiteCrafting?
RYAN: SiteCrafting is about to celebrate its 25 year anniversary, so they’ve had time to iron out their culture and get it right. Everyone has been nothing but friendly and helpful since I started. I work pretty autonomously but have people to lean on when I have questions/run into a roadblock and am given time and resources to advance my knowledge of topics pertaining to my job. SiteCrafting’s office is very inviting and is always filled with snacks, cold drinks, and cold brew on tap.
What career advice do you have for college students looking to break into tech?
RYAN: It’s currently a tough job market. There’s been mass layoffs from all these big tech companies. The biggest piece of advice I could give is to not let it get to you too much and focus on all the non-tech companies and smaller tech companies that exist and are still hiring people.
Learn more about Green River College’s Bachelor of Applied Science (BAS) in Software Development by visiting www.greenriver.edu/software.
