Employee Spotlight: Trey Andrews
Wednesday, Jun 18, 2003
This edition's spotlight is on Trey Andrews. Trey is one of our interactive developers. He and his wife, Mary Anne, will be moving to Philadelphia later this summer. We will all miss Trey very much and we wish the best for him and Mary Anne.
Q. How long have you worked at Dogwood Productions?
A. I came onboard with Dogwood in September of 1997, so it's been almost five years. When I was hired, our development team consisted of John, JB, Jason and myself, with David doing some network admin from Tennessee.
Q. How does your previous work experience help you in developing web sites?
A. Before joining Dogwood, I worked as a freelance designer, in a digital print shop, as a commercial photographer's assistant, and as a pre-press specialist. A lot of my work in the digital print shop was getting any sort of file that a customer could conceivably bring me to output to various media devices. I learned a lot about getting personal computers of all makes and platforms to do what I wanted them to - regardless of how they felt about the prospect. When I worked pre-press, again I had to get a useful result out of what my clients brought me - regardless of whether the client knew what the appropriate format was... which they rarely did. My work as a photographer and designer has refined my sense of visual design and layout. So, my work in these areas has helped me in bringing together the many diverse forms of content that clients provide into a coherent, attractive and useful package, whether it's a CDROM, a website, or an online application.
Q. What do you like about working at Dogwood?
A. The dancing girls and all-night parties. Well, ok, to be absolutely truthful, the parties don't usually run ALL night. Aside from that, I like the people I work with very much. Everyone here has at least one thing they're very good at, and usually it's more like three or four. I like working together with them to build things together that are better than anything any one of us could do alone.
Q. What are your interests outside of work?
A. I like puppies, daisies and long walks on the Interstate. Ok, ok, I stole that from my best friend's Engineering Department bio at the University of Florida. A lot of my interests directly intersect work, like programming Actionscript. In no particular order, I also enjoy playing guitar, bass and mandolin, reading any fiction I can get my hands on (with a strong emphasis on science fiction), audio engineering, motorcycles, tattoos, live music, debate/argument, and long walks on the Interstate. I also run a small hosting company with a focus on journal/community websites. Our community has a number of related sites, running on open-source CMS' (Content Management Systems) that allow us to communicate and share whatever art project we happen to be working on.
Q. What do you plan to do after moving to Philadelphia?
A. Work! Dogwood and I have been experimenting with telecommuting, and it's working out well, so I hope to continue working for Dogwood. I would also like to start a rock garden in our new house. My wife will be finished with her MBA, so she will hopefully have some free time for us to explore the Northeast.
Q. How has your time at Dogwood allowed you to prepare for the future?
A. Dogwood has helped me develop the skillz to pay the billz. Almost every project we've done has involved something new, making me learn a new skill to tuck under my belt. From here I could continue as a web developer, as a Unix sysadmin, as a print professional or commercial photographer. I've used elements of all of these in working for Dogwood. I've done a lot in my five years with Dogwood, and I'm looking forward to doing more.
Peace, y'all.