Introducing The Twilio Heroes: Meet The Barn Owls

Introducing The Twilio Heroes: Meet The Barn Owls

Back in December, we put out a call to find the first class of Twilio Heroes. We were blown away by the quantity and quality of applications from DOers looking to empower their community with development tools, and improve their own software skills. Picking this class wasn’t easy, but we are incredibly excited to announce the 12 devs who will make up this Twilio Heroes class, which we’ve lovingly nicknamed The Barn Owls. Each Twilio Heroes class will be named after a different type of owl.

Now without further ado, here are the Twilio Heroes.

Colby Aley

Fun Fact: I enjoy listening to a wide variety of music while programming. from Qawwali to electronic to 90s gangster rap.

Eva Zheng

Fun Fact: I love to hill bomb on my cruiser.

Cassidy Williams

After graduation, I’ll be working for Venmo as a front-end engineer and developer evangelist, which makes the Heroes program perfect for me!  I can’t wait to get started.

Fun Fact: I have been globally ranked for memorizing pi.

Kassandra Perch

I’m an unrepentant JS addict on all platforms. From client-side and making use of new browser APIs, to Node.JS and server-side development, to hardware hacking on embedded systems, I’m almost always working on JS in one form or another.

Fun Fact: I knit, crochet, sew, and participate in just about every flavor of crafting.

Joe Nash

Fun Fact: Tried to learn the Ocarina. One song later, stopped trying to learn the Ocarina.

Nick Dorion

I started coding at One Laptop per Child, teaching and creating activities for schools in Uganda, Uruguay, Haiti, and the Marshall Islands. In 2012, I joined Code for America, making websites and maps for cities across the United States.

Fun Fact: Wrote a Mongolian-language typing tutor

Daniel Andrews

Fun Fact: I surfed in Kodiak, Alaska.

Shawn Looker

Fun Fact: I played 9 instruments in high school.

Hung Truong

I’m interested in becoming a more active member of my local developer community by organizing and participating in events.

Fun Fact: I really like taking photos with celebrities, even if it annoys the heck out of them.

Nicolas Grenie

Fun Fact: I developed my first website using Microsoft Word (in 2000)

Alex Hutcheson

I’ve been an avid coder since being introduced to programming through an AP CS class in high school. I’ve worked on projects at all levels of the tech stack, from low-level microcontroller hacks to cloud-hosted Ruby on Rails apps. At the moment, I’m particularly interested in large-scale distributed systems and programming language implementation.

In my free time I like exploring the outdoors, skiing, sailing, backpacking, or even just curling up in a hammock with a good book.

Fun Fact: I’m a slow cooker enthusiast and a huge Ravens fan.

Max David

Fun Fact: I spend way too much money on Seattle coffee.

Learn more about the Twilio Heroes program here and stay tuned to our blog for updates on what this amazing class builds.