Drew Colthorp

Drew Colthorp

With us since: January 2006

Drew has over 10 years of experience with web development, dealing often with javascript-heavy web applications, database optimization, caching, and scaling. In 2008, Drew co-led a tutorial on refactoring Ruby On Rails web applications at the premier Rails conference, RailsConf. In 2011 he ran a workshop with Patrick Foley on Planning for Scale. He’s also led development on several mobile applications targeting iPad, iPhone, Android, and Blackberry.

At Atomic Object, Drew has on worked on a number of projects, including

• Catalog Choice, a mail preference service for controlling direct mail marketing;
• Realius, a web-based game and collaborative prediction system which offers tools to gather data on user perception of real estate value;
• PersonalDesigner, a kiosk application that lets users paint their rooms virtually with a paint program-like interface;
• Priority Health’s mobile member ID iPhone application;
• Priority Health’s HealthInSite – a web-based reporting application which helps companies understand their health care consumption.
• and numerous other web and mobile applications.

Drew graduated with honors in 2006 with a degree in Computer Science and Mathematics. He was recognized as one of two outstanding seniors in his computer science graduating class.

While a student at Grand Valley State University he participated in an NSF-funded research program where he developed software using cutting-edge mathematics (bivariate Daubechies wavelets) to detect airplanes in aerial photographs. He also engaged in original research in a computer science independent study where he developed a new technique for compressing scientific data. A paper on this work was published in the 2007 IEEE Electro/Information Technology Conference.

His technical interests include algorithms, data structures, and programming languages. In his spare time, Drew enjoys reading, music, cooking, and brewing his own beer.

Writing & Presentations

• Read my blog posts on Atomic Spin