About

Thanks for stopping by. Here's more about me and my background.

Brendon Smith at desk at work

Science

Science is my jam. Before I got into tech, I spent about ten years doing science research.

College

Brendon Smith in Wheaton College Library

I got into science during college. I did a dual degree program with majors in Spanish and Applied Health Science. Applied Health Science was a great fit and I became a thriving member of the department. Mentors helped me figure out who I was as a person and how to leverage my strengths to create a career.

My favorite subject in my Applied Health Science major was Nutrition. I was blessed with a great teacher who provided a rigorous foundation in nutritional biochemistry and taught the course materials with passion. I found it fascinating that all of the biochemical and molecular details of our cells and physiology could relate back to the foods we eat every day. My nutrition teacher gave me extensive opportunities in research, teaching, and administration that made me a competitive applicant for graduate school. I taught four classroom lectures and nine exam review sessions, won two academic awards, presented a poster at a scientific conference, and published two peer-reviewed scientific research articles.

I graduated from Wheaton with a B.S. in Applied Health Science, a B.A. in Spanish, an understanding of my identity and values, and a direction for my career.

Grad School

Brendon Smith in the Bioacoustics Research Lab at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign Brendon Smith in doctoral regalia after defending dissertation
Me in the lab during my first year of grad school, and me after defending my dissertation. The more science I did, the longer my hair got. Correlation or causation?

I went directly from college into the Nutritional Sciences PhD program at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. You can read more about it on the Illinois page. You can download my dissertation for free here, and you can look up my publications on my ORCID profile.

Postdoc

Brendon Smith at postdoc lab bench at Harvard Brendon Smith's hands at postdoc lab bench at Harvard

After I finished my PhD, I moved to Boston for postdoctoral research. During this time, I decided to learn software engineering and start a career in tech. You can read more about it on the Harvard page.

Tech

My experiences as a science researcher motivated me to get into the tech industry. I'm all about making scientists productive.

Udacity

Brendon Smith with some fellow coders at a Udacity meetup

After deciding to learn software engineering, I had to figure out how to learn. I looked into code bootcamps and computer science grad school. Some friends introduced me to the online learning platform Udacity, and I decided to learn there. I chose web development because of its broad applicability and large open source software community. Check out the Udacity page for more.

Projects

I've built my own open source software projects and helped with many other projects too. Check out the projects page for more.

Work

I've worked as a Software Engineer and DevOps Engineer at a few different companies. Check out the work page for more.

Life

Here are some things I like to do when I'm not working.

Coffee

George Howell Coffee Godfrey Hotel Modbar pour-over system Brendon Smith and Kent Langston at the 2017 New York Coffee Festival Counter Culture booth

I like to start my days with specialty coffee. I frequently hang out at coffee shops around Boston and Cambridge. Let me know if you'd like to join me.

Fitness

Brendon Smith competing in a track meet in 2002 Brendon Smith doing pull-ups

I got into fitness at the beginning of high school. I ran track, and got into swimming and strength training. My fitness pursuits taught me the value of consistency and focus, and helped me develop an active lifestyle that I continue today.

Movies

Close-up from Blade Runner (1982) of an eye with the 'Hades Landscape' reflected in the iris

I like collecting and watching movies.

Here are some of my favorite genres:

Here are some of my favorite directors:

I usually prefer to watch movies at home, but sometimes hang out at art theaters like the Coolidge Corner Theatre.

Fun fact - the username "br3ndonland" I have on platforms like GitHub and LinkedIn is a reference to one of my favorite movies, Jurassic Park (1993) (TheMovieDB, Wikipedia). The computer programmer character, Dennis Nedry (Wayne Knight), has an Apple Macintosh Quadra 700 computer at his desk. Apple's convention (still in use today) was to put an icon at the top right of the desktop representing the computer's hard drive. A close look at Nedry's desktop reveals that his hard drive is named NEDRYLAND. When I got my first Mac, I named my hard drive BRENDONLAND. On socials, I had to use "br3ndonland" because "brendonland" was taken (there are actually people named Brendon Land).

Image from Jurassic Park (1993) of Dennis Nedry (Wayne Knight) squeezing a stress ball and saying, 'Thanks, Dad.' Image from Jurassic Park (1993) of Dennis Nedry's desktop showing that his hard drive is named NEDRYLAND

Music

Massive Attack at the Riviera Theatre, Chicago, 2010-10-15 Rush at the United Center, Chicago, 2015-06-12

I like listening to music and going to concerts. I also played classical guitar for several years in high school and college.

Here are some of my favorite genres: