Ryder Damen

Hey, I'm Ryder. I solve problems with DevOps, Developer Relations, IoT, and Artificial Intelligence.

Hi, I'm Ryder.

I'm a DevOps Engineer and Developer Advocate who comes from a background in Biomedical Engineering, Science, and Aviation. I hang out at the intersection of technology and creativity.

I help companies with special projects to solve unique problems with AI and technology, for example:

  • Making the lights on a city building flash when the team scores a point
  • Using a camera and artificial intelligence to count cars in a parking lot, to know how full it is
  • Creating engaging short and long form technical content to reach out to audiences

Technical Skills

I like to describe myself as a jack-of-all trades of the tech industry, but here's what I focus on the most:

def get_things_im_good_at():
    """Returns a list of commonly used skills"""
    return [
        'python development',
        'infrastructure as code (IaC)',
        'cloud computing & architecture',
        'full stack development',
        'aws',
        'gcp',
        'computer vision (machine learning)',
        'internet of things (IoT)',
        'hardware prototyping',
        'devops',
        'video creation',
        'technical writing',
        'building communities',
        'creative technology development',
    ]

It's by no means an exhaustive list, so if what you're after isn't on it, send me a message and I'll let you know if it's in my wheelhouse.


Projects

I've moved all my projects to rydercalmdown.com - take a look!


Blog Posts

Here are a few of my latest blog posts.

Lessons from Chris Hadfield's Book - An Astronaut's Guide To Life blog post image
Lessons from Chris Hadfield's Book - An Astronaut's Guide To Life

Read the book, it's fantastic. Be prepared, work the problem, and redefine success for your ultimate happiness.

A Brief History of the ASCII Bell Code (ASCII 7) blog post image
A Brief History of the ASCII Bell Code (ASCII 7)

A brief history of the Bell Code in ASCII, and how it's used today

How to point different subdomains to different DNS providers blog post image
How to point different subdomains to different DNS providers

A quick guide on how to point different subdomains to different nameservers

Building a one-line metronome in the OSX terminal blog post image
Building a one-line metronome in the OSX terminal

A nerdy side-quest into ASCII control characters

Working with the Enttec Open DMX USB Interface on Linux blog post image
Working with the Enttec Open DMX USB Interface on Linux

If you thought linux audio was rough, hold on to your hats.

Why I use list comprehension in python less now blog post image
Why I use list comprehension in python less now

It's a great tool, but not the most friendly for public code.

Let's Work Together

I solve problems with DevOps, Developer Relations, IoT, and Artificial Intelligence.