BIO
Originally from the southern state of Alabama and raised in small town Virginia (his high school was all-county, public, and one hallway), Mark Brown II is full-stack developer living, breathing, working, and making art in Washington, D.C.
Mark Brown II is a developer with the Department of Commerce - Commerce Data Service which is an internal technical team who helps the 12 bureaus of DoC to rapidly create and develop projects that advance the Department's mission and change the way that citizens interact with their government. He has a B.A. (with Academic Honors) from Brown University where he studied both Theatre Arts and Ethnic Studies with a focus in feminism. During his time in college he studied abroad in Bologna, Italy; London, England; and Melbourne, Australia. Since graduating from college he has worked in arts development (Arena Stage - DC), hospitality management (ACME Bakery - Miami, FL), in the arts as a dancer (Rosie Herrera Dance Theatre) and actor (Actor's Playhouse - Miami, FL), and higher education policy/web development (Aspen Institute - DC).
Mark started learning to code from taking General Assembly's Front End Development course which he then complimented with their JavaScript Development course. His life as a developer began at the Aspen Institute where he wrote HTML and CSS in Drupal for the higher education program. Over two years later he's building APIs, writing code in Django, and learning Ruby on Rails. He enjoys dance (Afro-Cuban, modern, and dance theatre), learning to cook new things (currently learning how to make curry), teaching people how to code, and learning new things in programming.
Languages:
HTML5 ⭑ CSS3 ⭑ JavaScript/ ES2016 ⭑ Python
Frameworks & Libraries:
NodeJS ⭑ AngularJS ⭑ Django ⭑ Express ⭑ Knockout ⭑ jQuery ⭑ HandlebarsJS ⭑ Bootstrap ⭑ D3 ⭑ Amazon Alexa Skils
Database:
MongoDB ⭑ Apache Solr
Management & Deployment:
Git ⭑ Heroku ⭑ Docker ⭑ Gulp ⭑ Sass ⭑ AWS
WORK
PUBLIC ENGAGEMENT
| Title | Organization/Conference | Talk Description |
|---|---|---|
| Intro to HTML & CSS | U.S. Department of Commerce | Introductory course into HTML & CSS for DoC employees. Acted as Teaching Assistant for the class. |
| "I'm Not Sure I Belong Here": Fighting Imposter Syndrome in Tech (Panel) | DevFest DC 2016 - Google Developer Group | This talk was aimed at those looking to mentor new hires, tech leaders working on diversifying their teams, new techies navigating the workplace, and more senior dev’s keeping up with the pace of the field. |
| NIST Net-Zero Data | White House Open Data Innovation Summit | Presented on the creation of open data sets, and web presence, for the NIST Net-Zero data. |
| Intro to JavaScript | U.S. Department of Commerce | Introductory course on JavaScript. Topics include data types, looping, and simple functions. |
| Alexa Open Data Skills Challenge | U.S. Department of Commerce | Provide technical assistance throughout the Alexa Conference. Challenge was presented in partnership with Amazon Alexa Engineering team. |
| Creativity and Programming Panel | InnovatorsBox Creative Jump | As an innovator what insights, lessons learned, perspective and stories can inspire others |
| 95 Theses on Tech | Diversity in Computing Summit | A workshop with technologists in which we discuss our experiences and how we can create a flexible,dynamic list of "real-world" applications of creating an inclusive and supportive workplace. |
| Learning From Experience: Being LGBTQIA+ in Tech | Pride & Tech DC | Participated on a panel with other LGBTQIA+ professionals where we discussed the intersections, and experiences, of our identities as developers and as a part of the 'Pride' community. |
| Organization | Role | Responsibilities |
|---|---|---|
| Aya, Inc. | Marketing Consultant | Assist the Executive Director with the design and implementation of marketing materials for Aya, Inc. - a mentorship organization based in DC that connects black female teenagers with black female young adults. |
| Out in Tech DC | Member | Helping create the DC chapter of Out in Tech whose purpose is to create networking and educational opportunities for self-identified LGBTQA people in the tech community. We hope to connect with other LGBTQ organizations in the DC area to create an inclusive tech community. |
| Brown University Alumni Club | TBGLA Co-President | Organize, plan, and produce events in the Washington,D.C. area for Brown University alumni with a specific focus on the LGBTQ community. |
| Award | Organiazation |
|---|---|
| Data Service Award | Commerce Data Service |
| Socrates Scholar | The Aspen Institute |
