Eric Thomson

I build software with the care the person on the other end deserves — interfaces that feel considered rather than assembled, systems shaped around real constraints, and solutions custom-fit to the problem rather than forced into a familiar mold. What I enjoy most is the collaborative side: working with stakeholders and other engineers to turn a lot of differing needs into something that works well for everyone.

The engineering habits started in the field. A biology degree and published research in pollination ecology at Denison gave me the instinct to start with the question, not the answer. Before software I did subterranean survey work for Bat Conservation International — contracting with land management agencies across the country for abandoned mine surveys and landscape assessments, the kind of fieldwork where the data collection has to be right the first time. That carries through everything I build, from Communify fintech applications to research-adjacent projects like HALO.

The people side comes from somewhere else. Years as a ranger and guide supervisor at Philmont Scout Ranch — the BSA's flagship wilderness base in New Mexico's Sangre de Cristos — taught me logistics and leadership in demanding conditions. Twenty-plus years as a ski instructor, now on the training staff at Arapahoe Basin, reinforced the same lesson: the technical foundation matters, but the skill that's actually hard to develop is reading what someone needs and meeting them there. Based in the Colorado high country. When I'm not at the keyboard, I'm on the mountain.