Getting to Know Sherrie
After a decade working as a professional guitarist, Sherrie stepped into research, marketing, and communications roles before heading up an award-winning politics and culture magazine.
Next came web project management, video production, and business strategy adventures. She has a special interest in how discoveries in complexity theory are being applied to business.
Sherrie has a bachelor’s in applied music. She began her studies at the University of Auckland majoring in composition under New Zealand composer John Rimmer before transferring to the U.S. and majoring in classical and jazz guitar performance.
She did a year of graduate study in theology and is currently completing studies in knowledge management at the University of Ottawa.
Our Interview With Sherrie
In the following interview, we discuss Sherrie’s career and interests.
How did you get into technology and web development?
After I graduated from university with a degree in music I started gigging full-time (which meant about 4 gigs a week). My main instrument was electric guitar so tech was always part of that: amps; rack gear like programmable sound processors; pedal boards; audio software, and so on.
When I moved into digital media, I got into design and publishing software and video editing. I taught myself web development. Along the way, I was asked to manage several website build projects. Next came an interest in analytics. I became really interested in cross-channel strategy and setting up smart marketing technology stacks to maximize traffic and conversions.
Do you own any websites?
I own several including SherrieG where I blog occasionally.
What hosting companies have you used?
Acquia Cloud (my favorite for Drupal), AWS, Netlify, GitHub Pages, Namecheap, and HostGator.
Favorite code/text/HTML editor?
The one I used most frequently is Sublime Text with the dark Soda theme (perfect contrast) and Emmet plugin installed.
Star Trek or Star Wars?
Neither. Fan of The Expanse, though.
How do you start your day?
With a stainless steel tumbler filled to the top with ice, diet Red Bull, and topped off with orange-flavored Emergen-C powder.
What are your favorite books?
Those that present original insights and information that is unusual and surprising. One of my favorites is the modern morality play, An Inspector Calls (JB Preistley, 1945). This is a moving story told with what I call “time-stacking.” Hidden from the reader, and other characters, (at first) is the fact that the main character, a detective, is from the future and the crime he is investigating has not yet happened.
I also enjoy offbeat fare like the sci-fi novel Gun With Occasional Music by Jonathan Lethem. Additionally, I like analyses like Béla Bartók: An Analysis of His Music by Erno Lendvai. (What to fir cones, Fibonacci series, and Bartók’s music have in common? Answer.)
On the business side, Blue Ocean Strategy is at the top of my list.
Where are you in the world?
Snowy New England.
When did you first use the internet?
Hmnn, not sure. But I remember in the early days exploring that weird phenomenon that was AOL chat rooms. (Twitter strikes me as an updated version of AOL chat rooms.)
When you aren’t sitting in front of a computer, what are you doing?
Learning and exploring.
What was your first computer?
A chunky Dell laptop.
What do you like to watch on TV?
I use FireTV so I have my favorite apps – like Deutsche Welle. Most of what I watch is via Amazon Prime. I enjoy Jack Ryan, Man in the High Castle, The Expanse, and various documentaries.
What was the first website you ever built?
An intranet site built with – Egads! – FrontPage.
Code from scratch or use a CMS?
I’ve done both. I’m currently playing with static site generators like Jekyll and Hugo. CMSs are an option for these too. NetlifyCMS and Forestry are two examples.
How did you learn web development?
I started with Lynda.com and CodeCademy then used Treehouse and Pluralsight (Code School). I maintain subscriptions to Pluralsight, Lynda.com, and Treehouse.
Early on I went to PHP MeetUps that were over my head, knowing that if I threw myself in, I was bound to learn something. Since then I’ve had fun attending various in-person workshops including a Drupal conference in Asheville; an accessibility BarCamp in Washington, DC; a General Assembly on-site course in Boston for BootStrap 3; and the 2018 Boston Twilio Superclass.
If you want to learn to code, just dive in.
Elsewhere on the Web
Sherrie can be found elsewhere on the web:
Learn more about the WhoIsHostingThis authors and editors here.
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