A Round of Applause for Kyle McClellan
Another month, another round of applause for the exceptional consultants at Authority Partners! This month, we want to spotlight Kyle McClellan, a Texas-based consultant.
Originally from Ohio, Kyle has brought his expertise and commitment to our Texas team, delivering remarkable results for our clients. Let’s take a moment to recognize Kyle’s journey and personal achievements, as he shares his story with us.
Tell us a little about yourself and your role at Authority Partners.
I started with Authority Partners in February when a role working with clients in person in Houston, TX, opened up. Coming from the software industry, it’s been a lot of fun helping to modernize and scale the systems here by introducing powerful technologies like Kafka and GraphQL.
What is one personal accomplishment that you are particularly proud of in the last year?
Moving to Texas. I’m from Ohio but used to want to be a cowboy as a kid. Naturally I wore my cowboy boots when I drove down, and I knew I had arrived when I stopped to get gas and received a compliment from a Texan.
What is the biggest challenge that you have faced in your career and how did you overcome it?
There is a kind of optimism unique to young developers which insists quite stubbornly that they can solve any problem. Though this attitude can be the mother of invention, creative genius unleashed often succeeds only in reinventing the wheel.
For me, experience in software has looked like: familiarity with existing solutions, familiarity with hidden costs/benefits, ability to distinguish novel aspects to a problem from its component problems that have existing solutions, expertise with tools. These balancing a healthy dose of creativity have helped avoid many pain points when delivering solutions.
What do you think sets Authority Partners apart from other companies in the industry?
Authority Partners feels like a community with high technical standards, where talent and quality speak for themselves. I’ve enjoyed technical discussions I’ve had with fellow consultants where we have gotten to dig deeper than is normally possible in pull requests and the like.
What is your favorite benefit of working with Authority Partners?
I’ve enjoyed meeting and working closely with people around the world. It’s fun noticing the differences in culture and geography, as well as the weird similarities at times. Who knew Texas and the Balkans were the only places where Kolaches are commonplace?
If you could talk to 18-year-old you, what advice would you give?
Something encouraging: trite but sincere. Resist the temptation to be profound. I might ask him for advice.
What is one fun fact about you that people might not know?
I enjoy singing Russian church music and have been a member of a few different choirs. No, I am not Russian. I just really like the music.
Thank you, Kyle!
- Kyle as a book: A technical manual with rhyme and meter and mythic depth, a la Rime of the Ancient Mariner.
- Kyle as an animal: An opossum who is not nocturnal because he likes the sun.
- Kyle as a movie:Kyle as a movie: An action movie starring Michael Cera, Woody Allen (vintage), and Jeff Bridges (contemporary).
- Kyle as a historical figure:That Ancient Greek philosopher who fell into a well because he was studying the stars.
