Who I am
I’m Dan, a Red Hatter
I built this portfolio site to make sure I was spending enough time on me. When you’re a design leader, it’s often hard to invest time in yourself. My free time often goes to scheduling that 1:1 that I haven’t had a chance to do yet, or spending 15 minutes on one of the many items on my list.
I’ve been at Red Hat at over 7 1/2 years at the time of writing this post. I almost can’t believe that. It feels like just a number, but thinking back to my life when I started this job, it’s amazing how much has changed. Neither of my daughters were here, my old English Bulldog Amelia was still around, we were just moving to Raleigh, etc. But most of all, I’ve grown as an individual and a designer.
I’ve learned what my strengths are. I didn’t know what my strengths were and was fortunate that I had strong leaders that guided me towards where I’m at today. I remember working at Target in 2010. I was hired as a “cart attendee”, which meant I went into the parking lot and got all of the carts that people nicely put back into the cart spot or riddled 800 feet throughout the parking lot. My greatest achievement was walking down to the dollar store to find an abandoned Target cart. But I had a great manager, and that manager saw more in me. He allowed me to move from cart management to run the checkouts, and then to manage stock in the store. I remember him telling me that “one day you’ll be a manager, at whatever you do”. I never saw that in myself, but somewhat took it to heart and let it push me.
I love the company and the people I work with. I’m passionate about what I do every day, and love that I get to solve problems. My leadership has become important to my job, and I believe I’ve made an impact in the Red Hat world.
