Meet Russell Pier, “The Russ”, a software developer who has been with FrogSlayer since May of 2017. Russell is one of our student-developers attending Texas A&M University, pursuing his BS in computer engineering. Russell was born and raised in Bellville, TX and found his way to College Station because of the great engineering program at Texas A&M University.
What led you to software development?
The first program I ever wrote was a function to do the Law of Cosines on my graphing calculator. I asked my teacher if I could use it on the test and she told me that as long as I didn’t tell anyone else how to do it, she didn’t mind. Made a hundred on that test. 🙂
I began at Texas A&M thinking I’d be a Mechanical Engineer. While procrastinating my thermodynamics homework, I watched videos on how to build computers and write software. One day I had a Eureka moment and changed my major to Computer Engineering. I’ve loved it ever since.
In my junior year, I became the director of a large organization at my church that aimed to provide community and support for freshmen students. I thrived in being able to make people better versions of themselves and help them succeed in college. For me, software development was a mix of these two passions. I get to make peoples’ lives genuinely better with software. I think that’s pretty neat. 🙂
What does your typical day look like?
My typical day looks something like this: Wake up at 6:30 am, go for a walk or run, eat bacon and eggs, go to work, go to class, go to Mass if I have time, cook dinner (probably tacos), do some homework, go to a chapel to pray, relax by reading or working on a personal project, and finally go to bed at 11:30pm.
What is your favorite part of being a developer?
I get really excited by the “magic” of programming. Typing a line of code and having it do something on a screen is about as close as I can get to actual magic. Hello Worlds please me to no end. I also really like to develop things that are useful. I get immense satisfaction out of saving someone, or even myself, a little bit of time or hassle.
What are your hobbies?
Cooking is one of my favorite things to do. I never make the same thing twice – expect for this amazing taco recipe that I have. Cooking is different every time I do it, which is a big part of why I love it so much. I honestly think learning new things is really my favorite thing to do and cooking just happens to satiate that passion in a delicious way. I also like to read novels and poetry, sometimes in the morning while I’m drinking black coffee, and I enjoy running at times. Lately, I’ve been trying to teach myself Spanish.
Where do you see the world of technology in 10 years?
One thing I find fascinating is the Google Deep Dream Generator. It was originally created to conceptualize what an artificial neural network actually “sees” when it is trained. It has since been adapted into an image processing tool that can “paint” art of its own. In ten years, I think AI assisted art and design could be a norm and even things as complex as creative software solutions could be on its way to being augmented by AI.
Russell found that he quickly connected with FrogSlayer’s dedication to each client. “I love the attitude of excellence and service at FrogSlayer. Seeing all of my coworkers constantly strive to be their best and deliver their best work to the client inspires me. At FrogSlayer, I get to make decisions based on what our clients’ needs are and that’s one of the many reasons I love working here.”
