Among colleagues, Daniel is known for rambling about algorithm design or obscure academic terms, which he blames on his classical training in Computer Science. Among clients, Daniel is known for being honest and direct when trying to get clients to focus on value and efficiency, which he blames on his unwavering quest for…value and efficiency.

Daniel founded Collective Idea in 2005 to put a name to his growing and already full-time freelance work. He works hard writing code, teaching, mentoring and speaking about the company’s processes and tools.

Brian found a better path to avoiding the real world than simply spending a lifetime accumulating degrees in college—he joined Collective Idea immediately after graduating from Calvin College with a BA in computer science. He was our first intern and, surprisingly, didn’t run away screaming.

Since being introduced to Ruby through a research project, creating a Mendelian genetics simulator, Brian developed an interest in development methodologies, testing and design. He pairs his technical vision with an entrepreneurial mind to create beautiful code.

He used to have free time. Now he has a beautiful baby girl.

Keith started his life as a code monkey at the tender age of 10, writing games for the TRS-80 his parents bought him for Christmas. Not that he’s bitter, but this was probably his answer to having specifically asked for an Atari 2600 with Pac-man.

His career has taken him through 3D graphics, radiology software, content management and public health, with a brief stint as a molecular-biology student thrown in somewhere. He fell in love with Rails and Agile development in the summer of 2006, and has been pushing it on anyone who will listen ever since.

Together with his lovely wife, Barbra, and their genius son, Frank, Keith lives in Cedar Park, Texas, enjoying live music, gardening and plotting world domination, one browser at a time.

Chris is a Michigan native with a love of high-performance networking and server infrastructure. He brings a plethora of experience in event-driven programming and hardware integration systems.

He got his start in Ruby on Rails very early on (version 0.13) while on an internship from Grand Valley State University. He comes to Collective Idea from local startup Crayon Interface where he spent three years working writing Ruby and Java.

Steve is a Michigan State grad in mechanical engineering, but has been programming since he was single digits with his Commodore 64. QBasic greatness followed.

After putting in his time with PHP, Steve discovered Ruby, Rails, Git and Agile development. Open source greatness followed. After long admiring their work, Steve can finally cross working for Collective Idea off his bucket list.

Steve lives in Holland with his wonderful wife, Catie. Just look for the really tall guy running with the really short woman.

Zach focuses on three things: Family, Software, and Business. In that order. He has worked at opposite ends of the spectrum from Enterprise to Startup, and is constantly looking to cure his ignorance in all areas that interest him—and that is a big list. It is common for him to talk about quality software and business value, and how they work together.

An avid reader, and a Grand Valley State alum, he joined Collective Idea to contribute to an extraordinary team and accomplish great things for their clients. He has spent many years in software development, and is always looking to help educate, or be educated, on ways to improve.

Zach and his family live near Traverse City, Michigan.

Jason Carpenter has a strong passion for making great changes to the world, and believes software is one of the most promising tools to create change.

He has the entrepreneurial spirit at his core which has lead him to start four companies in his young career, Including a web-application start-up called Ascribe, where his taste for software creation began to gain steam.

Jason completed his Bachelors degree in Mechanical Engineering in 1998 and his MBA in 2006, both from Western Michigan University. He and his wife Denise are enjoying being in the thick of family life with their two young girls, and the recent (and final) addition of a bouncing baby boy.

Tim began programming at the young age of 8 on an Apple IIgs and has been expanding his repertoire ever since. Currently he’s helping our team with Ruby, Javascript and iOS. His strong background in agile software development gives him a focus and expertise that help him craft brilliant test-driven code.

He co-founded Booker with his wife Melissa, which was a team selected for Momentum’s pre-seed program. He continues to help it grow to take over the world.

When not coding, Tim is involved in the West Michigan tech scene, and you’ll often find him at GRWebDev, SoftwareGR, and BarCamp events.

Ryan attended Michigan State University for two years before leaving to serve his country in the U.S. Air Force. While in the military, Ryan studied at the Defense Language Institute in Monterey, CA, where he became fluent in Chinese Mandarin. After being discharged from the U.S. Air Force with honors, Ryan continued to serve his country by developing software for multiple government intelligence agencies.

Ryan has a deep love for learning and teaching, having come from a family full of educators. He is also a single father of two wonderful daughters. It was this passion for learning and devotion to his daughters that led him to joining Collective Idea in January 2012.