Welcome Bartas!

We’d like to welcome to our team Bartas, who will be taking on the roles of  technical support analyst and programmer.  We thought this would be a great time to start doing some staff profiles so that you, our beloved customers, can get to know the people behind the proxies. 

We asked Bartas a few questions as the inaugural profile. Here’s what he had to say!

Where are you from, and what’s the best thing about your home town?

Well, I grew up in a small mountain town in Colorado. The best thing about that town is it’s smallness and cuteness. It had all these nice little shops and there were only a few thousand people living there. There was this true small town feeling. I also remember spending all day jumping from rock to rock in the river that runs through the middle of the town on a hot summer day. And in the winter during the ski season, you could hear the “booms” of the dynamite the avalanche control crews used on unstable snow pack way up above the treeline.

What drew you to FoxyProxy? Were you a user prior to joining the team?

I remember using the original FoxyProxy extension for Firefox a long time ago. What drew me to FoxyProxy was speaking with Eric, the founder and CEO of FoxyProxy, and realizing that we were on the same page on many issues such as privacy in computing as well as a commitment to excellent customer service.

How long have you been interested in computer programming?

But really I first got into programming when I was 10. My parents bough me a toy computer. It was sophisticated enough to have Basic, but too sophisticated for me to understand everything at once. From then on, my driving question in terms of computers is, “How does this thing really work underneath it all?” I’m pretty handy with C (erm, pointers ftw), and I just dived into javascript.

You’re something of a baker, according to your bio. Do you have any feelings on The Great British Bake Off’s ‘Brexit’ from the BBC? (I also love baking, and this broke my heart.)

You know, I love baking, but I have to say I haven’t seen The Great British Bake Off. But now it’s on my list of shows to watch.

What’s an interesting hobby you have that people might not expect from you?

A few months back I heard about the health benefits of broccoli sprouts. I just started, but they are already germinating and soon I won’t have to pay five dollars for a handful of sprouts from the store!

Have you got any pets?

My one pet is a snuggly Australian Cattle Dog/American Bulldog. He’s really sweet, inquisitive, and loyal.

Star Trek or Star Wars, and why?

First of all as a disclaimer, I have only seen a few movies from each universe, not to mention the other media both universes have produced. Based purely on feel and my uneducated judgement on the subject, I’ll have to go with Star Trek. (this is the correct answer. – ed.)