We dedicated ourselves to finding the best team to solve all your open-source needs. Learn more, from the people who have found a home at Mediacurrent with our monthly employee spotlight. Today, we interviewed Director of Development, Mark Shropshire, also referred to as "The Shrop." Let's get started!
1. What’s your role at Mediacurrent, both internally and client-related?
As the Director of Development, I work to empower teams to be their best using best of class open source technical solutions. My goal is to get out of their way and make sure they aren’t blocked to get their important work done. Facilitating the personal and professional growth of our team members is a passion. I also love being a part of planning and implementing innovative technical solutions.
2. Give us an idea of what professional path brought you here.
I worked in higher education for 17 years. Most of that time was spent leading IT and development teams. I left the university to focus on Drupal development work as a Developer and Development Manager at a nationally recognized, award-winning graphic communications company. The combination of those roles and opportunities led me to a place where I was equipped and ready for new challenges at Mediacurrent!
3. How did you first get involved with Drupal?
While working at The University of North Carolina at Charlotte in 2004, a student mentioned I should try Drupal since he knew I was looking for a CMS. I had evaluated and installed many content management systems and in the end, the student turned out to be right. Drupal was the best fit for me since it was open source and very developer friendly. From there, I rolled out Drupal on many sites in Student Affairs and it was later adopted by the entire University.
4. Is there a go-to Drupal module that you like to incorporate whenever possible?
Not a module, but a collection of Drupal security modules and configurations; Guardr.
5. Do you have any recommended reading or books that you would suggest to others?
- Rework by Jason Fried and David Heinemeier Hansson
- Creativity, Inc by Ed Catmull and Amy Wallace
6. Any mobile apps that you use regularly?
OmniFocus, Feedly, Apple Podcasts, and Slack rank up there.
7. What do you like to do in your spare time?
Playing and recording various instruments (drums, bass, saxophone, and keyboards/synths). I also enjoy FOH (front of house) sound engineering. Music is a big part of my life.
I also really enjoy podcasting! Check out my podcasts: https://podcast.goserveothers.com and https://anchor.fm/shrop.
8. What do you like about Mediacurrent?
I love working with some of the top talent in the industry--so many smart people that I learn from every day. I feel like the work I do really matters to my coworkers, clients, and users of the projects we work on at Mediacurrent. I also appreciate the flexibility and opportunities that remote work provides.
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