Kraig Popelka

Web Developer

Kraig and his two dogs, Koopa and Rusty

I am a web developer from Ames, Iowa who now lives in Cottage Grove, Minnesota. I currently work for TravelNet Solutions as a developer and designer creating sites for travel destinations across the United States and Canada. Previously, I worked as an intern for the Biology IT group at Iowa State University where I developed university web pages in Drupal. In December 2017, I earned an Associates degree in web development from Des Moines Area Community College. I have a background in science and have found out that web programming is like doing many small experiments. You make a hypothesis that a line of code you added will result in what you thought the code would do. Then you test it and find out it did something completely different. Then you go back and repeat the process knowing that each time something doesn't work out you learn something new (or find that mispelled variable or misplaced semi-colon).

Through my experience so far, I have found out that I enjoy both the coding and design aspects fairly equally. I find working through a coding problem enjoyable as well as a great challenge. Even though I have completed my formal training in web development and received my associates degree, I know that my education is just beginning. Since there is a wide range goals for a website and how to accomplish them, I am constantly learning new techniques and technologies to help reach those goals.