Brian with his henna METAL GOAT tattoo. And the artist.
Here we are with another in our Team TGG bios! Today we’re going to talk to Brian Lee.
Hello. Hello.
So when did you start working at TGG? November 1st of 2018. Coming up on four years!
What’s your title? System Integration Developer. I do some stuff on the “backend.” (Dear reader, he’s being humble. This guy moves data around like nobody’s business.)
We’ll leave it at that. Tell us about the thing that’s kept you at TGG for four years now. My co-workers and Molly and Bryce (our company CEO and Consulting Lead, respectively.). Everyone has been cool to work with and are really decent people.
Are there any projects that you’ve worked on at TGG that you’re particularly proud of? I’ve been working a lot recently with our utility clients. For one client, I wrote custom code for 90-odd percent of the interface between their “micro-service architecture” and the off-the-shelf solution software. That was kinda neat.
Yes. Neat. Hold on. My head is still spinning. OK, so, where did you grow up? Spokane, WA. But I was born on a military base in Germany [Ramstein].
What do you do for fun when you’re not integrating systems? I like to listen to music. And I love reading. My favorite subjects are anthropology (mostly cultural themes - magic, ritual, religion), current affairs (esp. related to military/geopolitical happenings, intelligence agencies and the intelligence 'community'), and the occasional sci-fi. Also, I like to shoot me some guns.
You shoot guns? Where and what kind? I shoot pistols competitively.
Wow. What got you into that? My dad took me shooting in 6th grade for the first time. Both of my parents were in the military, so I grew up in a "military household". Going to airshows as a kid at the nearby air force base (Fairchild AFB in WA), being awed by footage/pictures of large machines, fast machines, and explod-ey machines. The bridge between shooting and competition shooting was playing paintball during my teenage years. Running around as a team, shooting at the other team, and getting shot at, huge adrenaline rush as a teenager, even more so when you're actually decent at it and placing in the top 5 team as a kid. I shot competitively for several years, but then drifted away from it for a bit (moved to a different state, didn't have money, etc.). Last year, I met up with an old friend at the same indoor range I had first shot at as a kid. The range had a lovely competition pistol. I decided to rent it and give it a whirl. It felt amazing. It was the spark that lit the fire in my belly to get back into competition.
Do you like to travel? I love to travel. I wish I did it more. Not really a great story, but... I met a guy on the beach of Boracay doing henna tattoos for a fair price. I was on vacay, so I figure why not? I pull up a photo of METAL GOAT on my phone. The guy does an incredible job! I'm always in awe, and envious of people who have artistic abilities. You ever wonder how much 'latent talent' is around the world, waiting to be discovered? photo attached.
Brian and his mom.
