I’m Randall, and I’m extremely excited to announce that, as of today, I have joined Stormpath as a Developer Evangelist!
For as long as I can remember, I’ve been writing code. Programming has been my life ever since I first got into software development while trying to write hacks for Wolfenstein 3D. There’s nothing more exciting to me than coming up with a fun idea and being able to bring it to life!
What I’ve Been Doing
For the past few years I’ve been building and running OpenCNAM, a REST API for developers who want Caller ID data. At OpenCNAM I built and architected the core API services (in Python and Flask), which scaled to support billions of developer queries.
In addition to OpenCNAM, I also build a wide variety of projects for fun (and profit). As I’m primarily a Python guy, I’ve built a lot of web applications in both Django and Flask, and have built several API services from the ground up using those technologies. You might even recognize some of my open source work:
- django-skel, one of the largest Django skeleton projects.
- django-twilio, the main Twilio library for Django developers.
- django-sslify, the simplest way to force SSL on your Django site.
I’ve also written many other developer libraries (which you can find on my GitHub: https://github.com/rdegges), random side projects, and services.
When I’m not writing code, I enjoy writing about programming, motivation, and startups on my personal site. I’m also interested in writing books, and published my first book not too long ago.
How I Found Stormpath
When I discovered Stormpath through Hacker News several years ago, I immediately thought: “What a great idea! I hope these guys are successful.” Fast forward to a few months ago at API World, I met Les and Claire and discovered Stormpath was still going strong, and growing!
After the event, I played around with Stormpath a lot, and the only question I couldn’t stop thinking about was: “Why don’t more developers know about Stormpath?” It’s an awesome service, and makes life WAY easier.
Stormpath also solves some of the most complex problems in modern web development by fully decoupling user accounts from the rest of the codebase, and ensuring all credentials are safe, secure, and always available (even if you’re doing thousands of requests per second).
What I’m Working On
In the coming months at Stormpath, my explicit intent will be helping other developers solve their toughest authentication challenges.
Over the next few months I will focus on new and improved client libraries, better sample applications in a variety of languages, and a very, very awesome CLI tool that makes working with Stormpath a breeze.
I’ll also help revamp the Stormpath documentation and user experience.
Lastly, I’ll meet YOU. My calendar is full of events: hackathons, conferences, meetups, etc., so I can help other developers with pretty much anything (and everything). Have a question about building hierarchical permissions for your Django app? I can help! Need advice on scaling your API service to support millions of users? Hit me up! Don’t know the best way to model user data in that SaaS application? I can point you in the right direction.
Whatever you need, I’ll be here for you.
Some Last Thoughts
My real passion in development is building API services. I completely love it. There’s something incredibly satisfying about solving a single problem in the best possible way, and making that solution available for everyone!
There are so many interesting problems to solve in the development world, and I think user management and authentication ranks pretty high on the list. Right now, more and more users putting their trust (and their data) in a company’s hands, but they’re also relying on companies to do the right thing, protect their data, and at the same time, provide a seamless experience.
Stormpath is really at the core of all these issues. Stormpath makes it easy for you to give your users exactly what they want: a simple, fast, and secure application.
I’m really looking forward to getting out of my comfort zone, and not only writing software, but also getting to know and interact with all of my developer friends, and help solve important problems.
Feel free to hit me up (randall@stormpath.com) anytime, and don’t be afraid to say hi if you see me around!
Here’s looking forward to an exciting 2014.
-Randall