Get to Know the Avalon Team: Adam Hallett

In our series Get to Know the Avalon Team, we're providing a closer look at the individuals who are working each day to develop the Avalon Media System.

Adam Hallett

Adam ia a programmer for the Avalon Media System. He graduated from Michigan State University in 2008 with a degree in Anthropology, after which he taught English to children in Yeosu, Korea.  In the past he has worked with early stage startups in areas such as solar energy and customer loyalty, and also at a voter non-profit. 

Can you talk a bit about your role in the project?

I work with product owners and other developers to design, build, and test much of the functionality you see when you use Avalon. Quite a bit of this work involves improving the durability and resilience of the software under many different use cases. We use special testing software that runs through different scenarios and ensures that a user action follows the appropriate steps to update the system.

What is a typical work week like for you?

I usually end up working on a mix of new functionality, bug fixes, and reviewing changes made by other developers.  Some of my time is spent participating in conference calls and reading industry news and blogs.

What apps/software/gadgets can't you live without?

I don’t have many gadgets but I’m a big fan of outsourcing tedious tasks with applications such as Mint, Credit Karma, Dropbox, Google Calendar, and Gmail.

When you’re not working, what can you be found doing?

Recently my car has had some problems and it’s my new hobby to fix them.  A few weeks ago I built a smoke machine with an air compressor, baby oil, and a car battery to test for leaks.  I then used software to command the car’s computer to seal the system and monitor the pressure. Troubleshooting the recent generation of cars requires connecting mechanical knowledge with computers and algorithms.