Brooks Patton

Brooks Patton is a passionate Software Developer, Leader, and Educator with extensive experience in full-stack engineering and cloud architecture. With a career transitioning from Systems Administration at NASA's Advanced Supercomputing Facility to the dynamic programming world, Brooks brings a wealth of knowledge and a unique perspective to any team.

Professional Journey

• Brooks Builds LLC (September 2023 – Present)
  As the founder and content creator at Brooks Builds, Brooks specializes in developing comprehensive Rust programming courses and engaging live streams on platforms like Twitch and YouTube. He has created four free Rust courses on YouTube, covering Entity Component System (ECS), deploying Rust-based blogs to Digital Ocean, and introducing Yew.rs and Axum frameworks. Brooks is developing a premium Axum course that offers live learning experiences and self-paced components.
  
• Health Scholars (September 2018 – Present)
  As a hands-on Director of Development, he cultivated a team environment emphasizing high-quality output and speed without overextending the team. Leveraging his extensive educational background, he was able to quickly help level up developers and build a culture of continuous improvement. His leadership fostered a culture where the engineering team could work efficiently, enjoy their work, and maintain a healthy work-life balance.
  
• Previous Roles
  
• Full Stack Engineer at Apto (August 2018 – April 2019)
• Lead Instructor at Galvanize Inc (November 2015 – August 2018)
• Web App Team Lead at Flowhub (April 2015 – October 2015)
• Lead Node.js Developer at Latitude40 (September 2014 – April 2015)
• Senior Systems Administrator at NASA Advanced Supercomputing Facility (April 2006 – May 2014)

Throughout these roles, Brooks has demonstrated a commitment to technical excellence, team improvement, and continuous learning. His leadership style emphasizes leading from behind, fostering growth mindsets, and creating a culture where errors are seen as opportunities for learning.

Technical Expertise

• Languages: JavaScript, TypeScript, Rust, PHP, Bash
• Front-end: React, Vue, jQuery, HTML5, CSS3, Bootstrap
• Back-end: Node.js, Express, Laravel
• Web Services: AWS (S3, EC2, Lambda), Heroku, DigitalOcean, Forge
• Databases: PostgreSQL, MySQL, Redis, MongoDB (SQL and NoSQL)
• Techniques: RESTful APIs, WebSockets, MVC, Microservices, Functional Programming, OOP, TDD
• Testing Frameworks: Jest, Mocha, Chai, Cypress
• Tools and Practices: Docker, Unix/Linux, Git/GitHub, CI/CD, Agile/Scrum/Kanban

Community Involvement and Interests

Brooks organizes the Denver Node.js meetup, where he fosters community and knowledge sharing among developers. His interests extend beyond programming, including live-streaming educational content, playing pool/billiards, and enjoying golf. Brooks is dedicated to education and often shares his insights on his blog at www.brookspatton.net.

Education

• Bachelor of Science in Anthropology and Computer Information Technology
• University of Oregon (1999 – 2003)

Publications

• Introduction to Docker for Web Developers