daniel a rios

About Me

I've been working professionally as a Web Developer since 2016, and am currently working at infarm in Berlin. I've been programming in Python since 2012, and with Django since 2014.

My career started in the Book Production Department at Simon and Schuster in New York, winding through Catalogue Production at Christie's and Business Intelligence for Veer and Corbis in Berlin. At every job, I've been interested in Data and Programs, and have served as the de facto IT person in my department.

My main interests lie in Web Technologies and Data Retrieval.

What I've worked on so far:

Open Source:

• Contributions - I've contributed code and documentation to Django Core, pytest-picked, Batavia, as well as a fix to urlobject.
• ColemakDE - I've developed my own variant of the Colemak keyboard layout for German keyboards. It is available as software, for normal keyboards, or firmware for the Nyquist and Iris keyboards.
• Plugins - Seeing the need for optimization and the usefulness of easily-remembered shortcuts, I created my own custom set of plugins for oh-my-zsh. I have a general set for daily use, and Stashy, which facilitates the use of stashes in Git.
• Brightstar - This was a wrapper around the Brightpearl API that allowed me to generate custom sales reports.

Closed Source:

• Daily Toast - A daily comprehensive sales report generated from the Shopify and Brightpearl APIs. It contained individual sales, daily totals of line item discounts, and sales amounts for different tax rates. It also posted sales information from Shopify into Brightpearl. (Django, APIs, Pytest, Heroku, RedisMQ, Postgres, Heroku)
• Deutsche Bahn - Internal Maintenance Tool for trains that fix other trains. (Django, Python, Pytest, Celery, Gitlab-CI)
• Global Training - Training Website for Mercedes-Benz Sales specialists. I've worked on two different iterations of this project. (Django, Python, ElasticSearch, pytest)

Mentoring:

• Open Tech School - Python and Ruby Co-Learning - I'm a Coach at this open-form meetup, and have helped numerous people get started, or become more advanced, in Python.
• Django Girls - I've been a Django Coach for the last four annual events.

What I do

My Tech Stack Includes:

Django, Python, Git, NeoVim, JavaScript, Linux, Test Driven Development, Pytest, Django Rest Framework, Redmine, Jira, Jupyter Notebook, Ansible, ElasticSearch, Postgres, APIs, JSON, HTML, CSS, SQL

Favorite Python packages:

django, pytest, pytest-picked, django-extensions, more-itertools

Favorite Text Editor:

NeoVim

Favorite Shell:

oh-my-zsh

Favorite Books:

• Infinite Jest
• Cloud Atlas
• The Last Guru
• Children of Time
• Two Scoops of Django
• Hello Web App
• Test Driven Development with Python
• Peopleware

Questions & Answers

Where are you currently working?

At the beginning of January 2020, I started working as a Backend Developer at infarm.

Is it true that you studied English Literature at University?

Yes! Part of my life philosophy is to always be learning, and to use this knowledge for the greater good. In High School, I was on the Math and Science track, but by the end, felt that I had reached a practical limit. At Brown University, I decided to expand the boundaries of my knowledge at the time. By focusing on Culture and Literature, I was able to learn different ways to think and analyze. The English Department at Brown was heavily influenced by the theories of the Modern Culture and Media Department, so I also learned to delve deeply into a text and consider past and current cultural contexts.

Do you feel that your degree influenced your understanding of programming?

My study of programming paralleled many of the concepts of semiotics that I learned as a basis for my degree. Properties such as the sign and object in language, informed my understanding of variable assignment as well as structure and meaning in code.

Why did you switch to programming?

Well, because I discovered I have an intuitive understanding of program design, and am not afraid to explore the way hardware and software are developed.

More and more, I found I was relying on the command line without fully understanding it. While trying to improve my skills, I stumbled upon Python. I simultaneously discovered that computer programs did not have to look ugly, covered with semicolons and braces, and that I loved the syntax and elegance of high-level languages.

So you're a self-taught programmer, then?

Yes. And no. I have learned so much from my local community as well as the Python and Django communities at large that I hesitate to call myself a self-taught programmer. I much prefer the term Community-Taught Programmer.

Are you active in the Python Community?

Absolutely. You'll regularly find me at the Berlin Django User Group and the OpenTechSchool's Python and Ruby Co-Learning Meetups. I also attend various conferences and try to give back to the community however I can.

Why Python specifically?

I've explored various programming languages, but always come back to Python. It feels so natural, the mandatory whitespace, the focus on readability, the lack of braces, as well as its closeness to natural English.

On occasion, the structure and meaning of Pythonic code resemble poetry.

Any other languages?

Besides German and Spanish, I can read and understand JavaScript, but I just can't resist diving deeper and deeper into the functionality of Python.