For Code Talent’s first Denver Tech Leader spotlight, Code Talent sat down with Travis Nelson who is currently igniting a new meetup: Denver Microservices. The group is all about networking and collaboration among a specialty, local microservices community. We asked about what he does, what he’s planning on doing, and why Denver is the right place.
Outside of Microservices, Travis is the Director of Engineering at Placeable as well as the Vice President of Java User Group.
What is your involvement in the tech community?
Five years ago I started helping out with the Denver Java User Group. I saw that there was a lot to be done, but really only one guy doing all the work for the group, and I started helping out. I then moved up to a VP role for the organization. Contributing was mainly a selfish thing, I wanted to help out but I also wanted to learn more so I decided to immerse myself in all the latest and greatest technologies. I got speakers to come in to talk about the subjects I wanted to learn more about so I could really pick their brain and then have them as a resource later down the road.
Lately, though, I have been stepping back from java applications. I’m starting this new group and doing Microservices, which has been my main focus as of recently.
Why did you choose Denver?
I’ve been in Denver for 8 years now, I moved up here from Colorado Springs. I really love the Denver community as a whole. It’s a big city center, big community involvement with technology...just career wise it is nice to have a lot more options. Denver gets people coming in from other states, other areas that are coming here on consulting gigs. Them coming through town is a great way to tap that resource. Some of these people come from all over the world and they speak all over the world and it’s really neat to have Denver be a stop on their tour. So, getting that community involvement in Denver makes it a bigger area for those technologies to come together and collaborate.
