July 16, 2019
Meet Joe McKinley: Umbraco wizard, beer connoisseur, and the fun uncle every kid wishes they had.
“No worries.” If you’re a Fyin.com client-partner who’s been in a meeting with Joe McKinley, you’ve probably heard those exact words. Not much rattles Joe, and being unflappable is a great personality trait to have in a busy development shop. In fact, he’s so easygoing that when asked to name a few pet peeves, he comes up empty-handed.
Go West, Young Man
Joe grew up in southern Wisconsin. He has two sisters. As a kid, he found that he had natural leanings toward math and logic. He enjoyed taking things apart to see how they were built. After high school, Joe worked in construction for a while. However, he couldn’t help but notice that working construction jobs during Wisconsin’s notoriously challenging winters was not as fun as he’d imagined. Joe decided to change course and headed to a coding boot camp. Naturally, he sailed right through, and his lifelong interest in “how things work” was re-ignited. Joe joined Fyin.com as a developer in 2016. He moved from Kenosha to Denver and hasn’t looked back. Eventually, his parents made the leap to Denver as well. He enjoys having family in the area, and is a proud uncle to a niece and a nephew.
Today, Joe is an integral part of the Fyin.com team. He has become so adept in Umbraco development that he’s now the go-to guy for training interns. Joe’s fellow Fyin.com team members regard him as a fast learner, someone who is adaptable and responsive. He also interfaces comfortably with our client-partners, so he's definitely not an introverted coder that we have to hide in a back
Good People Drink Good Beer
Life in the shadow of the Rockies suits Joe well. He enjoys longboarding, running, gaming, and playing hacky sack. He also holds a “Hop Passport,” which chronicles his steadfast brewery journey across the state. When he has sampled all of the brews, he’ll let you know.
Joe is also a huge fan of board games. Virtual reality games have their place, but who doesn’t love the all-American board game? Joe certainly has the patience for them. A few of his favorites are Gloomhaven, Settlers of Catan, Risk, and Axis & Allies.
Good People Also Drink Coffee
As for life in the office, you can count on Joe to help with just about anything . . . once he’s had his coffee. He’s been known to refer to 10:00 a.m. as being “too early.” He describes himself as being hard-headed, resourceful, and determined, which are great traits for a developer to have. Co-workers describe him as being big-hearted and patient, among other positive adjectives. As he continues to grow in his career, Joe is interested in diving deeper into back end development, plus Javascript and C#. His goal is always to add value to anything he touches and to be helpful - to co-workers and client-partners alike. He also enjoys his role as an intern trainer and wants to increase his skills in that regard.