Next up in our "Meet the Team" series, we get to know Tyler Machado, our newest team member and front-end developer.
Tyler joined the INN Labs team earlier this year and previously worked as the editorial developer for Harvard Business Review, where he built interactive graphics. He's impressed us all with his design and development chops and is passionate about scrappy, local newsrooms and the Boston Celtics.
More from Tyler, in his own words:
Where are you from?
I grew up in Dartmouth, MA, and now I'm based in Boston.
How long have you been at INN?
One month!
What's your title and what do you do?
I'm the front-end developer at INN. I develop user experiences, audit content and work on the look and feel of our projects. My toolkit is mostly JavaScript and CSS with a hint of PHP for the WordPress-y parts.
What's your favorite part of your job?
That my work helps the journalists and communities who, in my opinion, are doing important and overlooked work. Tech is so often scary and/or frustrating nowadays that I feel like I have to do my small part to use it for good.
Where do you get your news?
Locally: The Boston Globe, WBUR, Boston Magazine. Globally: ProPublica, the New York Times, FiveThirtyEight. Plus any number of things that filter through my social networks, though I'm old-fashioned and visit site homepages a lot too.
Who or what inspires you? Why?
Communities built around learning, creativity and kindness.
What are your hobbies outside of work?
Spending all my time and money in record shops, rock clubs and small-scale breweries.
What's your favorite part of working remotely?
I feel lucky that my opportunities to make a living and work with great collaborators aren't tied to my geographic location, because even a city like Boston doesn't have as many news-nerd jobs as you'd hope. But replacing my MBTA commute with a walk/run around my delightful neighborhood is a big plus too.
Favorite kind of pie?
My mom's French meat pie.
What cartoon character would you be?
Daria.
If you could have a superpower, what would it be?
I'd settle for a better bowling handicap.
Are you a dog or cat person?
Doggos.
Favorite album or book (or both)?
Depending on the genre of the day: "The Woods" by Sleater-Kinney, "The Lemon of Pink" by the Books, or "Donuts" by J Dilla
Favorite place you've traveled to? Why?
This is a copout, but I hope I haven't found it yet!
Most recently used gif:
Describe yourself in 5 emojis or less:
🤔🎳🤖🎧😎
What accomplishment are you most proud of?
I graduated from a DJ-ing class last year and honestly, I'm still kinda psyched about it.
What are some noteworthy projects you've worked on at INN?
I'm only just getting started! But ask me again next year.
What's the most unusual place you've worked from?
I haven't been at INN long enough to go too much further than my home desk. The most unusual place I've had to work before was probably pushing updates on a tropical storm from a flooding lakefront, and I'd be happy to never do that again.