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.

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 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 Grandville with his wonderful wife, Catie. Just look for the really tall guy running with the really short woman.

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.

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.

David joined us from the east side of Michigan where he had been working heavily integrating third-party automotive data with internal systems. He also joined us from the open-source world, as we knew him as a helpful voice on the Delayed Job mailing list.

In 8th grade he began building websites, and in 2005 he began working with Rails, participating in the Rails Day competition with an app called “My Congress”. He went on to get a BS in Computer Science from Michigan State University.

Jason is an expert coder and smart technologist who’s worked for two local startups before joining our team. His deep technical understanding of all things code manifests itself in his plentiful open source contributions and his ability to answer most questions with an experienced answer.

Having started coding as a teenager, Jason lives for writing code and loves experimenting with different languages and new technologies. Jason is also an avid gamer when he isn’t working on code, writing, or practicing martial arts (currently Kung Fu and Tai Chi).

A Calvin College grad, Jason now lives in Kalamazoo with his wife Martha.

Eric enjoys crafting well-architected web applications. With a career spanning nearly ten years, he has worked with government intelligence agencies and small startups. An avid and passionate learner, Eric continues to grow as a developer and improve upon his craft.

Aside from coding, Eric enjoys singing and playing guitar and performing improv comedy in his home of NYC. Having previously cooked professionally in fine dining, he is also learning to bake bread as an apprentice at SCRATCHBread in Brooklyn, NY.

Jonathan received his first computer–a Zenith 386–when he was in first grade. He’s been tinkering with them ever since. In college, though, he decided to study the humanities, graduating with degrees in European History and French. It took attending a tech conference in San Francisco at the end of his senior year to make him decide to pursue a career in web development.

His two passions now are software and cities. He’s the founder of Friendly Code, a Code for America Brigade in the city of Grand Rapids. He gets as excited as any geek about new technology, but that excitement is tempered by his belief–a product of his liberal education–that new technology moves civilization forward only if it increases human fulfillment; everything else is a fad.