Ryan Coulombe is a Senior Software Engineer and Acquia Triple Certified – Drupal 10 expert with 30+ years of web development experience. In the early 2000s, he helped grow Drupal agency NewMedia Denver from five employees to 150+. Later, as a Software Engineer at CivicPlus, he helped thousands of municipal governments adopt Drupal. Ryan has an uncanny knack for spotting problems before they surface (just don’t ask him to explain it.) Off the clock, he’s quietly internet-famous in the competitive Warcraft 2 scene since 1995 and devoted to a 1999 Compaq keyboard whose letters refuse to fade.
Areas of Expertise
Get to know Ryan
What’s a piece of advice you’d give to someone starting in your field?
Skip college. It’s a waste of time in an age where things that were useful yesterday are out of date today. Go straight to the certs instead and keep them up to date.
Which hobby do you enjoy that people might not expect?
Warcraft 2
What is your favorite emoji and why?
:D :/ :) >:
etc. etc. Because they have worked on a keyboard since their creation and require no special apps to produce 😉
What’s the best career or creative advice you ever received? Who gave it to you?
Capt Crunch (if you know you know) once told me on a 50+hr conference call when I asked him why he liked hanging out with a bunch of teens like myself: “Embrace the youth, they will keep you invigorated to continue doing what you love.” That came from a very old man at the end of his rather infamous career to a very young at the time aspiring IT nerd. That statement has proven true through out my entire 30+ yr career. I love mentoring young kids (sub-40yr olds now, ya I’m getting old lol) when the opportunity arises just as he did for me back in the mid 1980s.
