Hello! This is Caktus.

Team

• 

  Alex

  Founding Member

  About Alex

  Alex Lemann is a founding member of Caktus Consulting Group. He was involved in the computer science groups at Earlham working on a number of projects including research on theory of formal languages, computational science education using cluster computing, and embedded systems used to collect data on weather and energy consumption.

  Alex splits his time between Caktus and continuing his computer science studies at DePaul University where he is finishing up a Masters degree. At DePaul, Alex has focused on data analysis using both statistical as well as machine learning techniques.

  Alex has a wide variety of geeky interests such as learning about open source technology and communities, cluster computing, energy monitoring, software engineering, and user experience design. When taking a break from work and studies he enjoys gardening, playing with his dogs, and running.

  Find me on:

  • github

  Recent Posts See all

  • PyCon 2013 Recap---Teaching and Learning with the Python Community
  • Caktus Celebrates 5 Year Anniversary
  • Overriding Django admin templates for fun and profit

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  Ben

  Project Manager

  About Ben

  Ben graduated from Wesleyan University in 1990 with a degree in American Studies. He started his web career as a front end developer in San Francisco at MiX Media and later moved to the online daily news site, Salon.com, where he served as production director for two years. He and his wife then moved to Durham, NC -- their current home -- where Ben helped direct web strategy and manage web projects for the office of news and communications at Duke University.

  He joined Caktus in September, 2012 as a web project manager where his primary responsibilities include keeping clients informed and helping the team at Caktus to make sure they have all they need to finish projects.

  He and his wife and two children live in Durham and in his spare time he plays saxophone and clarinet in two local bands.

  Find me on:

  • lnkedin

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  Caleb

  Developer

  About Caleb

  Caleb Smith joined Caktus in 2011 after teaching music at an elementary school in Asheville, NC. He first started working with Django after writing game engines and pet projects in C++ and was amazed at the quality and speed of development that it offers.

  Caleb is interested in open source software and is an avid Linux supporter. When not computing, he is interested in Music Theory, cooking Indian food, and music synthesis.

  Find me on:

  • github

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• 

  Calvin

  Developer

  About Calvin

  For the past five years Calvin has focused on Django and jQuery development, while never ignoring the broad range of interesting things in other software communities, be it new servers written in Javascript with Node.js or the ever going developments of services like AWS and AppEngine.

  When able to pull himself away from the keyboard, he has been known to coordinate community events in his adopted Greensboro, ranging from social gatherings to local political campaigns.

  Find me on:

  • github

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• 

  Colin

  Managing Member

  About Colin

  Colin co-founded Caktus Consulting Group in 2007. Before Caktus, he worked as a web developer and programmer at Earlham and Oberlin college and was also a developer at a small, Macintosh software company.

  Colin's skills include Django web development and Python programming. He's a proponent of automated testing and continuous integration, PEP8 coding conventions, and is always looking to improve our deployment process.

  Colin helped organize several Django sprints in the Chapel Hill area during the 1.2 release push and regularly contributes to the open source reusable Django apps developed at Caktus. He also frequents local meetups, including TriZPUG and Refresh The Triangle.

  Find me on:

  • github
  • lnkedin

  Recent Posts See all

  • AngularJS to PyGame: Caktus’ 2nd ShipIt Day
  • Caktus sponsoring and speaking on mobile health at SwitchPoint 2013
  • Raspberry IO announced at PyCon

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• 

  Dan

  Developer

  About Dan

  Dan Poirier came to Caktus after 19 years at a large company working on networking software. He has been a committer on the Apache HTTP Server project since 2009, and was a speaker at ApacheCon NA 2010. A long-time Python fan, when he first tried Django he was immediately impressed with how quickly he could start creating useful applications.

  When not computing, Dan enjoys choral singing and has been a member of the Chapel Hill Community Chorus since 2004. He also likes taking his ukulele to jams and song circles. He reads hard science fiction and dark fantasy.

  Find me on:

  • github

  Recent Posts See all

  • A helper script for runserver
  • Class-based views in Django 1.3
  • Django Without the Web

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  David

  Developer

  About David

  David has been involved with Open Source projects and Python since early 2004. With a Master's in Human-Computer Interaction Design from Indiana University's School of Informatics, David focuses on designing and building applications that enrich and enhance the end user experience. When not bound to a keyboard and monitor writing code, he has been known to be an excellent bridge between stakeholders and development teams, translating non-technical user stories into discrete, actionable technical specifications, managing the development process, authoring training materials, and leading workshops.

  In his spare time, David pulls out his Master's in Music and chortles operatic tunes.

  Find me on:

  • github

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• 

  Julia

  Designer and Front End Developer

  About Julia

  Julia has been working her brand of web skills for nearly a decade. She started out as a designer for an internal marketing group at a travel agency in Los Angeles, and quickly honed her skills as a web designer using HTML/CSS and dabbled in PHP along the way. Her creative nature drove her to find work at Hallmark Cards, Inc. She mostly worked on Flash development and projects such as the Product (RED) campaign and Hallmark's site re-design. In 2007, her team was awarded the AIGA award for Web Design as a result of their work on the Product (RED) microsite.

  She first learned about Django after attending the 2008 SXSW Interactive Festival. She was amazed at how rapidly you can create useful web applications using Django. Shortly after the festival, she left Hallmark to work at the Lawrence Journal World as a Junior Designer/Developer, where Django originated. She worked on projects such as Ellington CMS and Marketplace, where she developed applications, designed templates, and wrote client-side documentation.

  Julia joined the Caktus Group in 2011 and is thrilled to work with some of the most talented Django developers this side of the Mississippi. She is looking forward to further honing her skill set.

  Find me on:

  • github

  Recent Posts See all

  • django-scribbler, a lightweight front-end interface for Django template editing
  • PyCarolinas' Logo Design by Caktus
  • Using LESS with Django

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  Karen

  Lead Developer

  About Karen

  Karen has been working with Django since late 2006, when she set out to put a web front-end on her crossword puzzle database. She was impressed by the framework and its community and began answering questions on the django-users mailing list and helping out with ticket triage and bug fixes. She became a Django core committer in September 2008 and continues to enjoy helping users, participating in local sprints, and contributing to Django's development. She is the author of Django 1.1 Testing and Debugging, published by Packt Publishing in April, 2010.

  Before getting involved with Django, Karen worked for several years in the computer industry on various software products centered on communications protocols and middleware. She received a PhD in Electrical/Computer Engineering from the University of Notre Dame, where her graduate research focused on distributed operating systems.

  Karen is also a crossword puzzle constructor; she has published around 100 puzzles in The New York Times and other national newspapers. Outside of puzzles and Django work Karen enjoys volunteering with Alley Cats and Angels, a local cat rescue organization dedicated to improving the lives and reducing the population of homeless cats in the Triangle area.

  Find me on:

  • github

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  Mark

  Lead Developer

  About Mark

  Mark recently turned the skills he gained working on Wall Street to the web. Whether it's writing server side code in Django or a slick UI with jQuery, Mark enjoys bringing his passion for web development to Caktus. He stays up to date on the latest search engine optimization and web standards through local meetings. Mark is active in the local Python community and has helped organize events to encourage learning Python. You can also find him answering Django questions on Stackoverflow.

  Mark is a proud alumnus of NC State and New York University. He is an active runner and enjoys micro-brew beers, college sports, and spending time with his family.

  Find me on:

  • github

  Recent Posts See all

  • Managing Django Translations with Transifex
  • Sprinting on Django: A Layperson's Perspective

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  Nicole

  Operations Manager

  About Nicole

  Nicole Foster has worked for a number of years in Raleigh's nonprofit community. Most recently, Nicole worked as a Project Assistant at Blueprint, NC, a nonprofit consultancy organization. Nicole has considerable administrative, research, and office management experience. She is a graduate of the University of North Carolina at Asheville, where she obtained her B.A. in Literature.

  She is an avid, and at times obsessive, reader with a wide variety of interests including birds, linguistics, pop music, literary theory, and cartoons. Born in St. Louis, Nicole has lived in 6 different states, moving to the Triangle area of North Carolina in 2000. In her free time, she enjoys practicing yoga, dancing, and seeking out adventure.

  Recent Posts See all

  • Caktus is hiring a Web Project Manager
  • Caktus is hiring a Web Project Manager
  • Caktus is Sponsoring SwitchPoint 2012

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  Rebecca

  Developer

  About Rebecca

  Rebecca first started working with Python in 2009, when she used Django to build a web interface for a game framework. She quickly fell in love with Python's flexibility and ease of use and takes pleasure in exploiting Django's utility for a wide variety of applications. Since then, Rebecca has gone on to earn a Master's degree in Computer Science from UNC Chapel Hill. When not occupied by programming, she enjoys bicycling, dancing, and exploring the Triangle.

  Find me on:

  • github

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  Scott

  Technology Support Specialist

  About Scott

  Before becoming the Systems Administrator at Caktus, Scott worked in the Telecommunications Research and Development group at UNC. And before that, Scott was the entire IT department for Carrboro's Weaver Street Market. While keeping everyone at Caktus connected and happy, Scott also makes sure deployments go smoothly and that our sites stay up. In his spare time, Scott runs and bikes with his two children and their dog through the wilds of Carrboro.

  Find me on:

  • github

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  Tobias

  Managing Member

  About Tobias

  After graduating from college, Tobias took a year off to bicycle through South America before moving to North Carolina and co-founding Caktus Consulting Group in 2007. Before Caktus, Tobias owned and operated a small software and web hosting company for a number of years and supported his college career writing statistics software in his home town of Ithaca, NY.

  Tobias is an active member of the Django development community and a core developer of the RapidSMS framework, and makes regular contributions to both the projects.  He is the co-author of and chief advocate for the messages framework that was introduced in Django 1.2 and has helped Colin organize several successful Django development sprints in the North Carolina Research Triangle area.

  Tobias's skills include database-enabled web development, software engineering, and Linux system administration. When he's not writing software, Tobias loves cooking, making pottery, and cycling.

  Find me on:

  • github
  • lnkedin

  Recent Posts See all

  • PBS' Half the Sky Documentary Site Developed by Caktus
  • Planning Our First ShipIt Day at Caktus
  • Django Fundamentals Bootcamp Recap

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