Meet the Students of HackerYou Summer Academy!
Ahmed Omran
Educator & Web Developer (@aomra015 | aomran.com)
Ahmed Omran is a passionate educator and a web developer. He has lived most of his life in the Ottawa region, graduating from the University of Ottawa with two degrees (a Bachelors of Science and a Bachelors of Education). Ahmed believes that a great education is one of the best ways to empower people and cause positive change. For the past year, he has been working as an Instructor, Course Developer and Technologist for a Ministry of Education-inspected private online high school.
As a freelance web developer for many years, he has gained experience in many aspects of web design/development including SEO, Design/HTML/CSS, Javascript/jQuery, databases, and back-end development (many open source PHP projects).
Why are you excited to join the HackerYou Summer Academy?
I truly enjoy learning; I’m usually taking online courses (MOOCs, Code School, Codecademy, etc.), often together with my wife, and reading books and blogs. So HackerYou Summer Academy will be an extension of what I already do but I’m really excited to get my technical skills to the next level with the help of HackerYou’s instructors and mentors. I’m also looking forward to going through this journey with a cohort of students, making friends, and learning/teaching/socializing with like-minded people.
What are you going to build this summer?
The main project that my wife and I are bringing is an application that handles art submission electronically for art centres. The project is commissioned for the Ottawa artist centre “Voix Visuelle” and the goal will be to open source the code with deployment instructions for the benefit of others.
For the past year or so I’ve been compiling a list of some terrible, ok, good and hopefully brilliant ideas. If time permits then I will be building one of these applications.
Gustavo Andrés Ibarra Martínez
Project Manager (@salesoptimized | catalogics.com.mx)
G. Andrés Ibarra is a native Mexican entrepreneur pursuing economic development by collaborating with other entrepreneurs and small enterprises by building business networks and clusters for the achievement of a better place to live.
He works as a volunteer at the Jóvenes CANACO of Querétaro group, which is a non-profit group of people focused on the improvement of business and personal cappabilities.
G. Andrés Ibarra founded the e-commerce solutions company called Catalogics and has been building e-store and shopping carts for clients that sell sepecific product such as Taxco silver jewelry or other independent Mexican designs.
Ibarra enjoys playing piano and writing lyrics, music and playing with his band @pakalmx. He also is a supporter of open source projects and collaborates in several developer communities by evaluating and improving different projects, mostly the ones that are education oriented.
Why are you excited to join the HackerYou Summer Academy?
HackerYou Summer Academy is a chance to dramatically improve my knowledge about programming. With this new developed logic I’ll be more close to collaborate professionally on developer communities forking open source projects and building mine too.
I’m in love with e-commerce and its capabillities but I feel a lack of technical abilities that I need to acquire through study and willingness. The sharing of experiences by collaborating with other students that have the same will to improve really excites me besides that I’m going to improve my english language level.
What are you going to build this summer?
I’m going to be focused on building great team collaboration towards a project that involves Ruby programming and that means a great challenge for everyone on the team. By challenge I mean the complexity of the problems and the technical questions that are going to come out by the flow of the project itself. I’m thinking about e-commerce and financial applications that would help small businesses and entrepreneurs to get success.
Paula Franzini
Artist (pfranzini.com)
Paula Franzini was born in New York and lived in the USA and Europe before settling down in Quebec. She earned a doctorate in physics from Stanford University and worked in world-renowned laboratories as a particle physicist before becoming a full-time artist (printmaker and painter). She studied painting and drawing at Ar.Co, in Lisbon, Portugal, and the Saidye Bronfman School of Fine Arts, in Montreal.
Since 2009, she is an active member of Ottawa’s artist-run centre Voix Visuelle, where she is currently vice president, and where she is also involved with coordination work and technical support. She has participated in several exhibitions, both in Canada and abroad, and her works are part of many corporate and private collections. She has been awarded creation and exhibition assistance grants by the Ontario Arts Council. Franzini’s multidisciplinary path — she is deeply interested in manifold subjects including mathematics, computer technology, natural sciences, photography, literature, and languages — is an integral part of her artistic work. She is currently working to transition to code-based animation + sound as her main mode of artistic expression.
Why are you excited to join HackerYou Summer Academy?
While I both enjoy self-directed learning and generally progress well with it, I feel that Summer Academy is a notable opportunity for me to re-experience a less isolated learning/working environment. I greatly look forward to interacting both with other students and with the HackerYou team. Also, while I feel fairly comfortable self-studying many CS-related topics (particularly those that are more strictly mathematical), I have so far felt clumsy and ill-prepared in my attempts to learn Rails/MVC/Git and so on. I feel therefore I would benefit significantly from a systematic, from-the-ground-up coverage and practice of this material.
What are you going to build this summer?
As well as my interests in coding for my personal work, I serve as the technical advisor of Voix Visuelle, a non-profit contemporary art exhibition space in Ottawa. I hope to develop (along with my husband Ahmed Omran, also attending this Summer Academy) a web-based application to automatize the clerical work associated with receiving and getting artist submissions ready for review by jury.
Lindsay Boudreau
Lindsay is a university graduate who studied English Lit and is sick of working in the traditional office environment. Knowing that a university education is simply not enough to compete in today’s job market, she applied to HackerYou as a way of acquiring the technical skills needed to build a career in a field that allows for the expression of her creativity.
Through attempting to learn Ruby in her spare time, Lindsay realized that writing code was not some inexplicable pseudo-mystical process, and she could harness its power with a little hard work and elbow grease. In her spare time Lindsay can be found chasing butterflies (as an extremely amateur entomologist) and photographing them along with other insects and spiders.
Why are you excited to join HackerYou Summer Academy?
Generally I love to learn new things and I am looking forward to the collaborative atmosphere HackerYou fosters. I am extremely excited at the prospect of a career where I can actually make something while challenging myself intellectually and constantly solving problems.
What are you going to build this summer?
I would like to build a field guide app that allows the user to compare insects and spiders common to their area with a photograph taken on their phone.
Ronald Victorino
Engineering Graduate
Ronald is passionate about technology, social change and the link between the two. He graduated from the University of Toronto with a degree in Materials Science and Engineering. There he studied the mechanical properties of hybrid materials using electroplated nanomaterials onto rapid prototyped objects. After much soul searching and redirection, he is currently taking his career in a new direction. Currently he is volunteering with the Harbourfront Centre working on a new environmental sustainability venture. Furthermore, Ronald is in the process of self-learning programming in the hopes of building applications for his own personal projects.
Why are you excited to join Summer Academy?
There are a couple of reasons why I am excited about being part of HackerYou Summer Academy. I think I am most excited about just diving right into it. I have loved programming in the past and never really understood why I did not get into it. Second, I love the fact that this is just pure hands-on experience with a project focus. Rather than having to be evaluated on small things on a test with no feedback, I am excited to learn from the professionals at HackerYou and Shopify to tackle hands-on projects and learn how to build applications from the ground up.
What are you going to build this summer?
I want to build two things this summer:
The first is my own personal website that includes my own journal, a technology / idea blog, and a forum to discuss solutions for social change. The second is a website / mobile app dedicated to gamifying how to quit smoking.
Kris Lapenskie
Kris grew up in Northwestern Ontario and has been involved in building/fixing/troubleshooting computers since a very young age. He is currently enrolled in Software Engineering at Carleton University in Ottawa. Kris’s last job was working as an Apple Genius and he has plenty of tales from that past life.
Why are you excited to join HackerYou Summer Academy?
I’m excited to be learning Ruby on Rails as my friends and I are interested in the platform. I’m also looking to get a job with Shopify as a junior developer. Also, the change in learning environment from traditional university classes will be a refreshing change from what I’m used to.
What are you going to build this summer?
I want to start with a simple ticket managing app for IT support and small computer businesses.
Nachiket Kumar
Graphic/Web Designer (@nachiketkumar | nachiketkumar.com)
Nachiket is a web and graphic designer based in Atlanta, GA. He originally studied biology, getting his bachelors from Carleton College in 2006. He followed that with coursework in graphic design from The Savannah College of Art & Design, and is currently a freelance designer interested in UI, web apps and typography.
Why are you excited to join HackerYou Summer Academy?
A new environment in all senses — and an opportunity to learn something new and meet a great group of people. The intensive goal oriented program is something I feel will be very beneficial to my way of learning, and a chance to refine other skills as well (HTML/CSS). Of course, seeing Shopify and how they work isn’t too shabby of a perk!
What are you going to build this summer?
Some of my areas of interest are healthcare and personal finance. Something useful based on one of these topics would be a great start! Still thinking about the specifics, though.
Andrea Del Rio
Entrepreneur & Economist (@andredelrio | delriolabs.com)
Andrea Del Rio is a young economist born and raised in Peru. In May 2011 she was appointed as one of Peru’s Best Young Economists by the Central Bank of Peru for her paper on using Google Trends to forecast macroeconomic variables. She spent the first couple of years of her professional life working for a leading consulting firm in Peru. She has experience in market research, growth strategy definition and strategic planning.
In January 2013, she created upgrade.pe, a community for connecting outstanding college students with students who need help with classes. She’s committed to improving education quality in less developed countries, promoting the intensive use of technology to fight poverty. In her spare time she enjoys learning different programming languages.
Why are you excited to join HackerYou Summer Academy?
Spending 10 weeks of my life in immersed in an amazing atmosphere, surrounded by great classmates, teachers and mentors while acquiring skills I’ve wanted to learn for quite some time now. Growing up in Peru, everything around me has always advised me to follow a traditional path “go to a good school, get a good job and stick to it for as long as you can”, however I don’t want to settle for this. Going to Summer Academy will undoubtedly be one of the craziest things I’ve done in my life, but excitement greatly overcomes fear. I just love the idea of having this opportunity.
What are you going to build this summer?
I’m considering building an app to promote e-commerce in less developed countries.
Tom Wark
Tom Wark is a young Carpenter/Renovator born and raised in the rural Ottawa area. He attended the University of Ottawa from 2006–2010 where he completed a Bachelor of Science. With not many prospects in the Science lab/research field he decided to start his own Home Renovation company.
After two years of doing renovation work, he needed a career change and asked some friends about programming and web development. Since then he has dedicated all his free time to learning and practicing coding. He aspires to be a successful web developer and will not shy away from whatever it takes to get there.
Why are you excited to join HackerYou Summer Academy?
HackerYou Summer Academy in my opinion will be the best possible way to learn Ruby on Rails and Web Development in general. Being taught by the best in the industry in an extremely creative environment is an experience that cannot be matched. When you pair that with an extremely motivated group, there is bound to be some amazing results. I am extremely excited to see what brilliant projects that this group will come up with and can’t wait to be a part of it.
What are you going to build this summer?
Although I have not fully decided on what I will build, I’m hoping to have a fully functional app that would be worthy of being in the Shopify app store. Based on the location of the course and the instructors I think building a Shopify app with the help of actual Shopify employees would allow me to learn the most and build the best possible application that I can.
James Giroux
Managing Director, Transforme Communications Inc (@jamesgiroux | transforme.ca)
James Giroux is the founder and creative lead behind Transforme Communications Inc. For many years James has split his time between working for clients with Transforme Communications Inc. and leading in non-profit organizations. Before jumping full-time into Transforme Communications Inc., James was the Executive Director at Student Collective, an organization that works with high school students to help them create and host fun events on their campus. He was also a youth pastor working primarily with students in middle school and high school. Since going freelance fulltime, James spends his days dreaming in CSS and HTML and designing for his awesome clients. James is married to Lindsey and they have one son, Ewen.
Why are you excited to join HackerYou Summer Academy?
I am excited to join the HackerYou Summer Academy for the opportunity to learn with others. It’s one thing to watch YouTube videos and google tutorials, it’s another thing to be in an environment with other excited students to learn and bounce ideas off of.
What are you going to build this summer?
Great question. I have no idea…yet. Right now I’m still trying to find that one idea for an app that will knock people’s socks off.
Naomi Freeman
Volunteer Resources Administrator, Holland Bloorview (@Naomi_Freeman | naomifreeman.com)
Naomi Freeman is a writer, editor, volunteer coordinator and community event organizer.
She is the founder of York University’s Philanthropy Week, an event organized and run by York is U, an on-campus student community group. During Philanthropy Week, students hand-write messages to alumni and donors on postcards, letting them know how much their gift (of time or money) means. In return, students get a free giveaway. It’s a great way to increase awareness about the need to give and the need to say “thank you”.
Last summer Naomi volunteered in North Carolina and Washington, D.C. with Organizing for America, President Obama’s grassroots re-election campaign team. In the fall, she was a Room Magazine Reader’s Choice Top 5 finalist, and had the opportunity to read live at Vancouver’s Word on the Street Festival.
Over the past year she has primarily been working at Holland Bloorview Kids Rehabilitation Hospital as a Volunteer Resources Administrator, where she led the redevelopment of the Volunteer Resources website. She was also a member of Toronto Taste 2013’s Steering Committee. Naomi has worked on a variety of university community events, including the Terry Fox Run, movie nights and Green Week. In 2008 she was part of the team that brought David Suzuki and the Whistle Stop Tour concert to York University. In a past life she also served a one-year term as Arts Editor at York University’s newspaper, Excalibur.
At work she enjoys integrating new technology with traditional communication models to increase effectiveness of organizational goals. She makes sure to find spare time to read, hit the yoga mat, hang out with awesome friends and cuddle with her two cats.
Why are you excited to join HackerYou Summer Academy?
I’m excited to join HackerYou Summer Academy because my favourite thing in the world to do is to learn new things and find ways to apply that knowledge. HackerYou offers an opportunity to learn new skills while building real things.
Technology is exciting. There is no end to the learning required to “master” technology. I’ve learned some — both on my own and through Ladies Learning Code — and I’m chomping at the bit to learn more. At work I can see the things I can almost build, and I can’t wait until I know exactly how to make it happen, even though my contract is finished now.
Technology is absolutely necessary. Communication is central to every kind of work we do today and technology is central to that communication. As a community organizer, you’ll be most effective at reaching the people you need to reach when you’re communicating effectively with technology. Writing blogs are also more awesome when they’re both pretty and functional.
What are you going to build this summer?
I intend to build a mobile-based volunteer shift check-in app. As I’ve been researching the market I’ve learned there are some apps in beta-mode, but they’re missing a key piece to make them 100% effective. As an experienced volunteer organizer, I have a strong grasp of exactly why that is and what that piece needs to look like to make the app a useful tool. From where I am now, I see a couple of possible options to make it happen and I can’t wait to get my hands dirty and figure out which will work.
Karen Anderson
Karen Anderson is a designer, strategist, entrepreneur, and product developer. Working at the intersection of business and design+build, her interests revolve around understanding how people interact with digital products, physical spaces, and engaging brands, in order to provide innovative solutions to unmet needs. An empathetic creative, she collaborates across silos and has a knack for analyzing data and identifying opportunities.
In 2010 Karen was the co-founder of a Pittsburgh AlphaLab tech start-up focused on building online project organization tools for design communities. Prior to falling in love with start-ups, Karen designed high-end spaces for architecture and interior design firms on America’s East Coast and her interiors have been featured on national television and online. She holds an MBA in the Management of Innovation and New Product Development from Carnegie Mellon University, a MS Design from the University of Massachusetts, and a BA in Architecture and English from Wellesley College. She has taught design at the Savannah College of Art & Design. Clarity, beauty, and a holistic approach to product, business, and user-experience drive her work. When not designing, coding, drinking tea, and learning, she’s an avid reader, enthusiastic hiker, and life-long artist.
Why are you excited to join HackerYou Summer Academy?
Looking forward to meeting an enthusiastic and diverse group of people all interested in technology, learning and building great products! Excited to be at Shopify and to explore Ottawa!
What are you going to build this summer?
“In stealth mode”, a.k.a., no idea yet.
Steve Adonna
Steve Addona is an English Language Professional currently working at Marianopolis College, Montreal. His position involves working with students who are at a severe linguistic disadvantage in the English school system and also those students who are in poor academic standing at the College. Years ago, he is a former JET and was stationed in Nayoro, Japan, in the great white North of Hokkaido; now, he sets out bravely to explore the world of Web development. In his spare time, Steve likes to read and discuss literature, play games of all sorts, and be a beer snob.
Why are you excited to join HackerYou Summer Academy?
I’m excited to join HackerYou because I am looking to break into a new career path, and this is most definitely one of the best ways to do it. As someone who has worked in Education for a while now, I feel that this sort of program format, the “bootcamp”, is the future. Learning has become bogged down with style, and somewhere along the way the substance was simply lost. Universities tell students that in order to be successful, they require a diploma; however, experience has shown me that this is not necessarily true at all. Programs like HackerYou give power back to students, allowing them to hone their skills in a laser-focused, practical environment, without dropping a furtune on tuition. In addition, coding is something that anyone can learn. I don’t need a degree to do it; I just need to work hard and learn from the pros. I’m looking forward to my first project!
What are you going to build this summer?
This is still somewhat up in the air for me. I’d like to take my language knowledge and apply it to a site similar to codeacademy; sites such as this exist already, but their quality is often lacking. I’ll get a handle on this quickly once I see exactly what Rails can do.
Mike Holbrook
Mike is a father of five and a new grandparent. He has made much of his living, working blue collar jobs (masonry, carpentry, iron foundry worker, and others), but has also been involved in teaching or coaching in some way throughout (including some years as a full time competitive swimming and water polo coach). He is making a rather radical shift to software development, and hopes to work on applications for training and education. He enjoys outdoors and wilderness in off time, and has traveled a bit, mostly Latin America, so he speaks a bit of Spanish.
Why are you excited to join Summer Academy?
I really like the concept of immersive and intensive education. Locating in the middle of a live and growing, real-life software business, is brilliant. The chances to learn will be fantastic! Can’t wait :)
What are you going to build this summer?
I’m happy learning, and tackling whatever’s offered. I’m hoping for some variety, and to start building a good base of skills. I do have some ideas about applications to facilitate learning, and I’d love to start fleshing those ideas out. I’m particularly interested in the use of Mobile in the training and education field.
Jeff Bernstein
Social entrepreneur & Co-founder, synapsABILITY (@JeffMBernstein | about.me/jeffbernstein)
Jeff Bernstein is the co-founder of synapsABILITY, an emerging social venture that will evolve into a digital platform connecting individuals with disabilities and the support networks that care for them. Trained as a foreign policy analyst, he worked previously as a human rights adviser to Canadian Senator Roméo Dallaire, and went on the hunt for counterfeit medicines in South Sudan and Myanmar for STATT, a boutique consulting firm specializing in innovative solutions bridging the gap between state institutions and the communities they serve. A Huffington Post Canada contributor, Jeff’s commentary has also appeared in Foreign Policy, the Globe and Mail, the National Post, and elsewhere. When he isn’t researching, writing about, or discussing the innovation economy, tech startups, and pressing public policy challenges, Jeff can usually be found with a basketball in hand.
Why are you excited to join HackerYou?
Two reasons:
First, applying a new skill set as a Ruby on Rails developer to my business and social enterprise could be a game-changer for synapsABILITY.
Second, and much more meta-focused, I’ve written previously about the oft-lamented ails of Generation Y — where we are graduating en masse into an economy that can no longer soak up our many liberal arts degrees and lack of practical, in-demand, hands-on experience. Our generation has been blessed, as few others before it, by the advent of cheap and ubiquitous technology. Rather than solely being consumers of such technology, we have the capacity to learn about and to shape how these technologies affect every aspect of our lives. This should be our calling. The time is absolutely now to seize our own futures by learning how to code.
What are you going to build this summer?
I’m considering two general ideas right now. One is a resource app for parents who are supporting kids or adults with developmental disabilities. The other is something closer to my first passion — supporting the healthy governance of developing-nation systems — and might involve a simple way to report when bribes are paid and how much money is required to secure specific goods and outcomes.
Parker Busswood
Front-End Software Engineer (@ParkerBusswood)
Parker Busswood is a front-end web developer and aspiring entrepreneur from Vancouver, BC. Parker graduated with honours from the Interactive Design program at Capilano University, and accepted the Governor General’s Academic Medal, the most prestigious award that students in Canadian schools can receive. During his time at Capilano, he also served on the Capilano University Senate, Board of Governors, and the Capilano Students Union board of directors, and served as valedictorian at the university convocation ceremony.
Currently, Parker is a front-end software engineer at East Side Games, working on design, user experience, and front-end development of internal tools and technologies for the studio. These include tools for analytics and business intelligence, email campaign management, and community support.
Parker is an entrepreneur at heart, and is passionate about working to build the tech community in Vancouver and facilitate learning and growth opportunities for individuals and startups in the city. He is the co-founder of GDG Vancouver, which runs developer meetups focusing on Google technologies. Parker also serves as a co-organizer of Startup Weekend Vancouver, the Vancouver Social Media Awards, and the Vancouver Social Media Network.
Why are you excited to join Summer Academy?
I’m excited to work with some amazing developers to further develop my coding skills and create amazing projects. I really want to kick start my programming skills, and this seems like a fantastic environment in which to do that. I also really look forward to the networking opportunities, especially with others in the class, because I find you can learn just as much if not more from your classmates.
What are you going to build this summer?
I haven’t decided yet, but I hope to come out of the program with a stronger coding skill set and the confidence and understanding needed to take my ideas and turn them into real-world projects. I’m passionate about community building, and would love to take some of my ideas around building up the tech community in Vancouver and start executing them at HackerYou.
Harman Dhillon
Articling Student (Soon to be called a lawyer)
Harman’s background is in investment banking, corporate finance, law and technology. Harman enjoys working with start-ups and helping them commercialize their technologies and devise business and IP strategies. Outside of work, Harman enjoys playing sports and spending time with his friends and family.
Why are you excited to join Summer Academy?
I’m joining HackerYou’s Summer Academy program to enhance my knowledge of web development, programming and Ruby on Rails. I especially enjoy working with start-ups, programming and working alongside talented individuals. I believe HackerYou’s summer program will encompass all of these factors. Most importantly, I’m joining HackerYou because I’m looking forward to having fun this summer!
What are you going to build this summer?
By the end of this summer, I hope to be able to take a crack at building an interactive scheduling system…don’t ask why, it’s something I’ve wanted to be able to build for a while now!
Elaine Archer
Elaine Archer is a media-maker and educator from Philadelphia.
Why are you excited to join Summer Academy?
I’m looking forward to being with a group of cool, creative people working together to learn and to build.
What are you going to build this summer?
I don’t know; that’s part of the excitement.
Adam Worrall
(@remedy)
Adam has a background in fine art, with a BFA from NSCAD in Halifax. He has always been interested in blending technology with traditional art methods and techniques and now that he is focusing more on design, he relies on the skills and sensibilities that he acquired in art school to inform his design decisions as a freelance/contract designer in Toronto.
Why are you excited to join Summer Academy?
Being in a group of motivated, dedicated people who have diverse backgrounds but similar goals is a great way to learn. I’m looking forward to seeing how everyone’s different perspectives and skillsets contribute to the environment, and I think we’ll all learn a lot from each other.
What are you going to build this summer?
I’m looking forward to playing with some of the ecommerce integrations made possible with the Shopify API, and I’m hoping to get a chance to try using server-side techniques to facilitate responsive design.
Alexander Miloff
Alexander Miloff has received Masters degrees in Public Health and Psychotherapy. He spent over 5 years working in International Development and Nutrition at ICDDR,B, a global health research centre in Bangladesh; The Micronutrient Initiative, a Canadian based nutrition NGO; and most recently the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI), a food security think tank based in Washington, DC. He has accumulated over 150 client contact hours in psychotherapy at Carleton and Saint Paul University. Alexander looks forward to translating his expertise in delivering nutritional aid and psychological assistance into effective computer applications and novel approaches to business.
Why are you excited to join Summer Academy?
Finally, an opportunity to turn my technology ideas into reality!
What are you going to build this summer?
I am going to build a Nutrition Calculator that computes nutritional intakes, shows areas of deficiency, offers recommendations for resolving deficiencies and tracks nutritional achievements in order to help users reach their dietary health goals.
Kate Hudson
Student at University of Ottawa (@k8_hudson)
Kate is finishing up a BSc degree in Psychology at uOttawa. She is fascinated by cognitive psychology but is not such a big fan of organic chemistry. She has an eclectic work background including campus marketing for Microsoft, supervising multiple university student service centres, and therapy with children who have autism and other developmental disabilities.
Why are you excited to join Summer Academy?
I’m most excited about both the people with whom I’ll be learning and coding, and the unique structure of the program. It is truly unlike any other learning opportunity out there, and I’m excited to take on this challenge with others like me!
What are you going to build this summer?
I’m not sure yet! Perhaps it will be inspired by something I or my peers are passionate about. I’ll consider it a success if we create something tangible that makes someone’s life easier, better, or otherwise more enriched.
Jamie Franklin
(@intertitles | intertitles.com)
Jamie is an erstwhile performer and online manger who has worked for several years in e-commerce and web production. With a love for the old and ultra new, Jamie’s interested in how technology can effect and enhance traditional mediums. She built her first webpage (hosted on Geocities) as a teenager in her parents’ basement, teaching herself HTML through trial and error and deconstructing source code.
With a degree in European Theatre she studied at Rose Bruford in London, UK and VSMU in Bratislava, Slovakia. After graduation Jamie was employed as an Online Assistant Producer for Disney UK. A founding member of London’s Lab Theatre Collective, she also acted and was a multimedia designer — notably for the Lab’s production on silent film star Clara Bow. Upon returning to Canada she joined the team at Just-Eat.ca, an online food-ordering portal, opening it’s first North American office. A combination of community management, web production and digital marketing for this expanding dot com were some of the tasks Jamie undertook.
Though Jamie’s not a Ninja, Jedi or Rock star, she certainly does like Pirates.
Why are you excited to join Summer Academy?
The HackerYou Summer Academy is going to be an incredibly unique opportunity to study Ruby on Rails in an environment conducive to learning. The combination of hands on & project based education, taught and assisted by people who actively use and are passionate about Ruby on Rails is really exciting for me. This style of collaborative learning with a wide range of people from a variety of backgrounds adds a completely different dimension to picking up a new skill set, than one would get in a more conventional classroom.
What are you going to build this summer?
Something beautiful and useful — what this will be exactly is still to be determined! I love list making, music and silent films — to see Pitchfork and 43things for example, having been developed with Ruby on Rails is really inspiring!
Najwa Azer
Najwa has been a chemical engineer, a management consultant and a marketing analyst, and is now trying to become a web programmer.
She studied Chemical Engineering at the University of Toronto, and did a year-long internship at ZS Associates, a management consulting firm, where she learned to extract actionable insights from gigabytes of data. She returned to ZS after graduation and continued to transform data into sales and marketing strategies in the pharmaceutical industries in both Canada and the US. She then moved to LoyaltyOne, where she used those skills to help drive marketing decisions for the Air Miles Cash and Dream rewards programs.
She will sometimes spend her free time automating a process at work or learning a new technical skill, but mostly will spend it being physically active. Few things make her happier than a Les Mills Body Attack class.
Why are you excited to join Summer Academy?
Few things are better than that feeling of relief and accomplishment that you get when the computer finally does what you’ve been trying to get it to for ages — and in the process you learned a few lessons the hard way that you’ll never forget. I can’t wait to experience this everyday while surrounded by amazing people.
What are you going to build this summer?
Friendships, love for Ottawa and possibly my own twist on Urban Dictionary.
Ben Kim
Ben is a recent graduate from the University of Notre Dame. A Los Angeles native, he is intrigued by mass media, business, and technology. When he’s not studying or learning something, he is playing basketball, reading a good book, or hanging out with friends.
Why are you excited to join Summer Academy?
I joined because I saw it as a great opportunity to expand my skill set and participate in something I always wanted to learn. The experience of being at a startup environment like Shopify definitely sold the program to me. Aside from that, I’m looking forward to spending two months in a new country, to explore and meet new people.
What are you going to build this summer?
I don’t know yet, but I’m excited.
Sam Power
Sam is a 23-year-old aspiring web developer/UX designer currently living in downtown Toronto. She is fresh out of school, having recently completed her B.A. in Psychology at Ryerson with minors in Accounting and Fashion Design. At heart, she believes that she is one part interdisciplinarian, one part entrepreneur, and one part artist; she is fascinated by new theoretical perspectives, she is passionate about solving major societal problems, and she is invigorated by the process of design. In addition to finishing up her degree, she’s also spent a lot of her time over the past two years volunteering with kids and young adults in Toronto’s libraries and schools, and she hopes to become more involved in Toronto’s NPO community in the future. In her free time, Sam enjoys painting with acrylics and coloured inks, playing Civilization 5, and dreaming up alternative endings to the TV show Lost.
Why are you excited to join Summer Academy?
I honestly couldn’t ask for a better summer — I get to learn a new craft, get to know and collaborate with some awesome individuals, explore a new city, and do it all while enjoying the sunshine and warm weather.
What are you going to build this summer?
Ultimately, I hope to mix my newfound programming skills with my psychology background to create fun and satisfying apps that will help people (particularly myself) master the process of developing healthier or more adaptive habits.
Freddy Rangel
Founder and General Manager, Infinity Framing Construction (www.infinity-framing.com)
Freddy Rangel is co-founder of Infinity Framing, a rough framing construction company in Los Angeles, California. Freddy attended the University of California, Berkeley where he studied International Relations. Afterward he served in the US Army as a Combat Engineer Officer commanding Route Clearance Teams in Iraq and serving as an adviser to Afghan National Security Forces. He lives in Los Angeles with his two cats.
Why are you excited to join Summer Academy?
There are a number of reasons why I’m excited to join the Summer Academy! What is most exciting is having the opportunity to meet outstanding individuals from various different backgrounds.
What are you going to build this summer?
My mother owns a salon and we’ve discussed how often her clients expect her to remember how they like to style their hair despite the fact that she sees hundreds of clients a week. I thought it would be great to build an application that allowed salon owners to create detailed profiles of their clients, including pictures.
Kathleen Gatti
Former Implementation Coordinator
Currently a student of IT Management in Toronto, Kathleen is someone who will jump at every opportunity to expand her technological horizons. She is 23 but has had a busy few years since highschool. When she first graduated she spent a year in Peru volunteering in different positions across the country. This experience gave her lots of curiosity about international development and so that is what she studied when in University at McGill. At a loss after her first 3 years, she left school and took a full-time position at a Healthcare Software company in Toronto where she’d worked in the past. The company had just released a .net version of their software to their clients and there were a ton of issues. Working through the kinks with the nurses/clients and getting exposure to systems implementation and user experience on a large scale gave her the push to go back to school. She had now got one more year of school and she is really excited to get right back to work. Kathleen getting a certificate in Health Informatics along with her degree because it is the field she is most passionate about.
Why are you excited to join Summer Academy?
I love the idea of working with a group of people who are as excited about learning as I am. I’m a little sick of plugging away at university and not really seeing any results, I’m pretty sure HackerYou will change my expectations.
What are you going to build this summer?
I’ve been playing with lots of ideas in my mind but I have been worried that I am getting ahead of myself as I am really a beginner at this point. In an ideal world, where I am fully capable of making my ideas a reality, I would like to build a home-care product. What I’ve learned from working in the LTC and healthcare industry is that there is very little supply (of beds) for the large demand (of old people). If we want to continue to offer affordable, free healthcare in Canada and specifically Ontario, more money will need to be invested in keeping people at home and sending caregivers to them there. An application which will help organize the nurses with their assessments along with a scheduling component for additional care required would go a long way in this industry. Fingers crossed everything goes well.
Tyler Sangster
Web Developer (@tylerPEI | tylersangster.com)
Tyler attended the University of Prince Edward Island, and completed his science degree in Computer Science in 2008. Since then he has spent 3 years working as a Java Analyst, and later System Admin for hosting company.
Last year Tyler moved to Ottawa to improve his career as Developer. He has spent the last year working for a printing company, where he handled their Web Design department and anything else related to IT. Tyler bought a house in Kanata and has loved every minute. He has a great passion for web development and programming, always looking to improve himself.
Why are you excited to join Summer Academy?
I am Excited to join HackerYou Summer Academy because I had meet the instructors before hand and knew the high caliber of class they would be able to teach. I knew having so many people together learning Ruby, Rails and Web Development in a focused setting would be a great environment to learn the skills and gain the experience I needed.
I am really excited and thankful for HackerYou and Shopify for running this program.
What are you going to build this summer?
I am hoping to build many different web apps this summer, in order to focus the skills we will be learning. I have many ideas so far however my goal will be to create something that will be useful to others and using in real world applications.
Lucas Moore
Luke is a 19-year old college student studying Mobile Application Development and Design at Algonquin College. Luke is part of the first cohort of the Mobile App Dev program. Program students spent most of the first year on responsive web design, javascript, php, and sql, focusing on cross-platform app development. Aside from coding, Luke enjoys being creative on photoshop. Where most of my fun lies in photo manipulation, but he has been known to do the occasional logo. Luke also enjoys exploring and keeping active. He has done a series of races teamed with his father, including the Yukon River Quest 2012, 8hr Raid Pulse Adventure races(2), a few 5kms runs, a 10km and will shortly be adding the Spartan Sprint to that list.
Why are you excited to join Summer Academy?
I’m excited to meet and get to work with an amazing group of people, as well as learn tons of new content and skills. And at the end of the day to be able to make and share awesome applications.
What are you going to build this summer?
I’m working on a personal website and have started development on a mobile app to help user’s find bike parking locations in downtown Ottawa.
Gael Rivaud
CEO at Greetest LLC (@gael135 | greetest.com)
Gael is an entrepreneur from Paris, France. He graduated from Business school 2 years ago and has the desire to build his technical skills and learn Ruby on Rails. Gael created Greetest, a web application built on RoR; it is a private social network to discover, share and organize your favorite information and particularly enjoy news together in real-time.
Why are you excited to join Summer Academy?
I am here to collaborate with other people, on Greetest, on someone’s idea or I have another idea e-commerce related to test during the summer.
What are you going to build this summer?
I am going to work and improve Greetest. I would like to test 2 business idea an ecommerce shop and a banking application.
We’re looking forward to two months of hard work (plus lots of fun!) and will definitely share updates along the way!
