Alumni Directory

Ryan Evans

Senior Front End Software Engineer
The Mx Group

School Information

School: Western Washington University

College Major: Business

 Years at College Works: 2012 to 2013

Career Information

Working For: The Mx Group

Title: Senior Front End Software Engineer

Industry: Advertising

Brief Description of Duties / Responsibilities:

As a Senior Engineer at The MX Group, I have a direct role in building, deploying, and managing dozens of client apps and websites. I work behind the scenes for household names like Lysol, Cummins, US Cellular to bring our agencies brilliant designs to life. Most days I’m working with some combination of React, JavaScript, PHP, Wordpress, and Node.JS.

What Has Been Your Proudest Accomplishment Post-CWP?

I get the most pride when I hand someone my business card, tell them what I’ve done in the past and what I’m doing now and the first thing they ask is “wait, how old are you?”

College Works Career Impact

In one sentence, what has CW meant to you?

Things most people find difficult are now easy for me because College Works Painting pushed me well beyond what I thought I was capable of.

How did your CW experience impact your career? Immediately after graduation? Now?

I didn’t wait until graduation to grow my career. After taking College Works Painting into Canada I started professionally consulting for startups, worked in real estate, and moved to Australia before I graduated. Three months later I became the Senior Business Manager of a company at the age of only 23.

What do you want to tell your clients about what it meant to work with them and how it has helped you get to where you are today?

My clients were great. When I was working with them we frequently hung out and had dinner/drinks and I still keep in touch with many of them.

What was the greatest lesson you learned from your CW experience?

Success doesn’t come easy and excuses won’t get you anywhere. Either you’re the boss or you’re the employee. What most people don’t realize is that you get to choose which one you want to be.

How have the friendships and networks you built during CW affected you?

Most of my best friends now have done College Works Painting and I met many of them my intern year. It’s just a different type of person that does College Works Painting and they’re the type you want to be around.

If you had to come up with a one line slogan for CW, what would it be?

Go to school to get a degree, do College Works Painting to get an education.

Advice

What advice do you have for potential CW participants? Current CW participants?

If you want to be the best, the 1%, then you’ve gotta earn it. It will probably be the hardest thing you’ve done and most people fail. If you don’t want to be like most people then tough it out and get it done. Successful people don’t make excuses.

Many college students struggle to choose between an internship specific to their target industry or doing CW. What advice would you give them on this subject if they wanted to enter your career field?

It depends on whether or not you want to be an employee or a company leader. Employees specialize and leaders generalize. I can work in pretty much any industry as a manager and I already have worked in many industries already at the age of 23. I’d rather hire specialized people to work for me then specialize myself.

What’s your best advice for someone interested in entering your career field?

Don’t listen to people that say you have to work your way up to become a manager, owner or executive. Most people think that and most people aren’t successful. Learn to be a leader and people will want to work for you. That’s how you will find success.