Episode 312 | Chris DeMars - Doing Something with His Life

Guest:

Chris DeMars

@saltnburnem

Chris DeMars talks with Dave Rael about community involvement, JavaScript pain, creating awesome user experiences, and overcoming obstacles

Chris DeMars is a UI developer first, UX architect always, working out of Detroit, Michigan. Chris is also an instructor, teacher assistant, and volunteer for the Ann Arbor chapter of Girl Develop It and co-organizer for the Ann Arbor Accessibiity Group. Chris loves coming up with solutions for enterprise applications, which include modular CSS architectures, performance, and advocating for web accessibility. When he is not working on making the web great and inclusive you can find him writing blog posts, watching horror movies, drinking the finest of beers, or in the woods of northern Michigan.

Chapters: 1:17 - Dave introduces the show and Chris DeMars3:23 - The appeal to Chris of HTML, CSS, user interface, and design5:11 - Chris's relationship with JavaScript and advice for developers on understanding designs, colors, and UI developers9:10 - Chris's involvement with Girl Develop It10:43 - Chris's community involvement and social nature12:35 - Conference speaking and making connections17:25 - How Chris discovered the ability to create experiences with user interface18:37 - The things that "light Chris up"19:39 - Chris on accessibility21:02 - Chris's story of failure - reeling from criticism23:58 - Chris, the podcaster27:25 - Chris's success story - Turning around an unsatisfying trajectory to become self-sufficient and set an example32:02 - How Chris stays current with what he needs to know33:21 - Chris's book recommendation35:38 - The things that have Chris most excited38:11 - Chris's sources of pain and suffering40:03 - Chris's top 3 tips for delivering more value44:23 - Keeping up with Chris

Resources: Chris's Website Tales from the Script - Chris's Podcast David Pine on Developer On Fire Amegala Detroit Code Indy Code Ken Versaw on Developer On Fire Dave Fancher on Developer On Fire Poltergeist Halloween Smashing Magazine CSS Tricks Google Chrome Developers YouTube Channel Syntax.fm Scott Tolinski LevelUpTuts - Scott Tolinski's YouTube Channel Wes Bos Shop Talk Podcast Toolsday Supernatural

Chris's book recommendation: Frontend Architecture for Design Systems: A Modern Blueprint for Scalable and Sustainable Websites - Micah Godbolt

Chris's top 3 tips for delivering more value: Separate passion from emotion Be friendly to everybody Get involved in the community