Meet our new team member – Ethan!

Here at NextStepU, we’ve recently had a new member come on board to our team! In order to get to know him a little bit better, we had a Q&A with Webmaster Ethan Hackett and learned some cool facts about him as well as good tips on how to survive the zombie apocalypse. (So now you really have to read on…)

Q: Good to have you here Ethan. Before you stepped into the magical world of NextStepU, what kinds of things were you involved in?

EH: I ran my own web and design company, Ethan Hackett Design. Mostly my focus was on web design, development and marketing but I also did some occasional identity branding.

Q: What made you want to become a webmaster?

EH: I can’t say I ever wanted to become a web designer, programmer, webmaster etc. specifically. What I did know was I wanted to make great things. I originally went to school for graphic design but then I discovered I could turn my designs into something better if I knew how to code. This led me to learning HTML, CSS, Javascript and other languages.

I feel like a web chef. The more ingredients you learn to bake with the more diverse things you can create. And the purpose of it all is to make something tasty and healthy for our users.

Q: Nice use of metaphor. So what exactly does your job entail? (Do you have to speak binary, can you talk to computers, etc.)

EH: 01101110 01101111…. err… I mean no.

In a nutshell my roll here is to make sure the website works correctly all while taking it to the next level. This means sometimes I’ll be analyzing web traffic trends, responding to user issues, or getting into the nitty-gritty code.

Q: QUICK! THE ZOMBIE APOCALYPSE IS UPON US! WHAT DO YOU DO?!

EH: Step One: In any post-apocalyptic scenario, I’d meet up with my close friends in our designated meeting spot. I’m not at liberty to tell you where exactly that is, but we do have one.

Step Two: I analyze what type of zombies we’re dealing with. Are they fast zombies like 28 days later? Or slower zombies like walking dead? This information is pivotal and really affects the next 98 steps in my “100 Step Zombie Survival Guide” by Ethan Hackett.

Q: That was…er…specific. To conclude, do you have any interesting facts you want to share about yourself?

EH: I love watercoloring and drawing. There’s something so rewarding in using your imagination to creative something beautiful and unique.

So there you have it! Not only will our webmaster make our webspace better (hint: check out our new homepage at nextstepu.com coming soon!) he will also be our first line of defense in case of zombies! Clearly, only the best work at NextStepU.

Got questions (or a hilarious prank) for our new member? Send him an email at ethan@nextstepu.com.