Ryan Blackwell

Ryan Blackwell is Blend’s Associate Director of Development. The way he sees that job, most of it is making sure the people around him have what they need — helping work through a problem, making room for someone to speak honestly, or representing the team in conversations they’re not part of.

He’s still got plenty of developer in him. He likes a good coding puzzle and has a soft spot for pushing CSS further than it needs to go. He’ll also think a problem through from more angles than anyone asked for — enough that coworkers tell him he’s overthinking it, and they’re not always wrong. It’s the same instinct that keeps one eye on the point of the work and the other on the small details that can make or break it. (It may also be where “only panic the panic you’re supposed to panic” comes from.)

Outside work, the overthinking goes toward fitness, health, philosophy, or whatever show he’s watching. Around the office it runs lower-stakes: a bad pun, an oddly specific custom Slack emoji, a fresh French press.