# Introducing Brian Nelson

June 30, 2015

[Ryan Cooper](/content/blog?author=55119fdee4b0eb27822edb4c/index.html)

## Introducing Brian Nelson

Next up, meet developer Brian Nelson.

*Brian and Kristin at a 2015 Family Reunion.*

**Hometown:**

I grew up on the family farm outside of Westboro, MO.  I now live in downtown Omaha, NE.

*Peace and quiet on the Family Farm.*

**Family:**

I have been married to Kristin (who treats me better than I deserve)  for almost 2 years and we live with our cat Samee (who is the real boss of the condo).

**My education in a nutshell:**

I have a BS in Mathematics from the Missouri University of Science and Technology and an MS in Computer Science from the University of Nebraska.

**My experience in a nutshell:**

Out of college I started work at a large interactive telecommunications company moving from application development to systems integration and finally the systems development departments.  I took some time off from the corporate world to join a startup in Austin, TX, but when that ultimately shut down I returned to Omaha.  Since then I’ve created software for a diverse set of industries – manufacturing, banking, insurance and travel to name a few.

I’ve created software in all levels of the stack – from linux kernel drivers to web and mobile applications.  My current focus is on [Rails](http://rubyonrails.org/) and [Angular](https://angularjs.org/) based web applications and native iOS and Android mobile applications.

*A difficult work environment.*

**Accomplishment I'm most proud of:**

One of my previous coworkers referred to me as the person that he had learned the most from in his career.  When I think of the people that filled that role for me, I am just blown away by the compliment.

**Favorite thing to do (Forefront Labs-related):**

Pulling discrete pieces of technology together to provide a robust and comprehensive solution for our clients.  Experiencing the satisfaction of all the pieces clicking into place as a project progresses is amazing.

**Favorite team:**

- College football – Cornhuskers
- NFL – Chiefs
- MLB – Royals

**If you visited me I would take you to:**

[The Drover](http://droverrestaurant.com/) – a great steakhouse here in Omaha, with a unique atmosphere.

*Minnesota - A good day on the lake.*

**Philosophy:**

For the past few months I have been trying to follow the philosophy of mindfulness - which is "the intentional, accepting and non-judgmental focus of one's attention on the emotions, thoughts and sensations occurring in the present moment."

*Hawaii, North Shore view from house.*

**In the next year, I'm looking forward to:**

The new challenges that we’ll be able to solve for our clients and the contributions that we can make to the tech community as we go.