Mike Rogers

With Friend Friday, we highlight some of the wonderful entrepreneurs and small business owners who do their thing at The Network Hub. This week, we take a look at Mike Rogers.

Please tell us who you are and what you do. My name is Mike Rogers and I work for Brand Thunder, a start-up based out of Columbus, Ohio. We create custom browser themes for all the major web browsers, focused solely on keeping brands connected with their fans and/or communities.  In typical start-up fashion, my responsibilities vary. These days I’m focused on the development of one of our newest projects, BT:Engage, which lets users create and share their own interactive browser themes via a web-based theme creator.

Tell us something unique about your company.  We go beyond the temporary connection that a website provides, instead engaging fans with a 24/7 brand presence in the browser. In addition to the visual aspect, our themes include interactive features which help to keep fans in the brand’s world.

What inspired you to get into this line of work? I consider myself more of a generalist, focusing on a variety of web technologies and tools rather than one specific aspect. I’ve spent significant amounts of time in the many areas of web application development, from server setup to front-end engineering. Basically, if there’s something useful that I don’t know yet, I want to learn it and apply it. Fortunately, I’m constantly given the opportunity to hone my skills in all the areas that interest me, and that is what keeps me interested in this field. On the day that there’s nothing new to learn, that’s the day I switch to a new line of work.

What do you enjoy the most about what you do? From a professional standpoint, I enjoy developing products that have a positive effect on companies and their brand. As an added bonus, every new project is a chance to innovate, test new ideas/methods, and learn new technologies.I’m also very fortunate to be working purely remote, which is very important to me. I quickly discovered that I’m most productive when I’m happy… and to me, happiness comes with a yearly routine of Summers in Vancouver, and hot (and slightly risky) countries during the crappy seasons. I’m only limited by my laptop’s ability to stay cool.

What made you decide to work at The Network Hub? I first discovered The Network Hub back in October 2010, when I attended the weekend-long hackathon thrown by @yurechko. Over the span of the weekend, I met some great people, learned about interesting projects, and fought the effects of sleep deprivation. Is the social gaming fad over yet?
Overall, it seemed like a great place to spend my time during the normal workday, so I decided to join up.

How has the experience been for you? It has only been a few weeks, but so far I’m really enjoying my time at The Network Hub. The location is very central, the staff are helpful, and the entrepreneurship-focused environment is inspirational.