Welcome to Go With The Flow, a FlowWest company blog series. Our bimonthly posts will feature sneak peeks of projects currently under way and a bit more about our hardworking employees.
Hunter Herrera is one of FlowWest’s software developers, based in Santa Monica. Having grown up in Vermont, Hunter has seen the duality of American landscapes and now cherishes his time back on the west coast. You can find Hunter on the Pier with friends, or at a trendy new food pop-up in town. One of his passions is taking advantage of Southern California weather by visiting natural landscapes in his area, bicycling, and hiking.
Around and back again
Hunter’s family can be found in southern California but he also spent half his life in the opposite side of the country in Vermont. His family relocated back to California in order to be closer and keep in touch more regularly.
How did you get into the environmental services sector?
From a young age I have had strong spiritual influences. My grandmother, who is a Venerable of the Cherokee nation, has taught my family the importance of nature conservation. As a software engineer I'm proud to be able to take the technical skills I’ve learned, and apply them with the beliefs that were instilled in me.
What is your favorite project going on currently?
One project I’m really enjoying working on is an offline-first mobile application that specializes in data collection for Rotary Screw Trap fish monitoring projects. We’re developing to move processes from paper to digital as most often field work is done very manually. With this app, we hope to speed up operations for our users while also providing better data entry and management.
What are your favorite features to work on in the app?
I’m proud of the high-level of data quality the app collects. When we did user research with our scientist users, we found their needs to be focused around data strictness; so we have validation steps throughout the process. That way they can’t progress through their field collection without fixing any found mistakes. We also enabled it to be auto-saving without a network connection as we know so many scientists work in remote areas. The data will be uploaded to the database once there is a connection but is always safe and secure until that point is reached. Additionally, the user interface of the app is meant to onboard new clients quickly while being intuitive and aesthetically pleasing.
What was your biggest accomplishment in the last year, FlowWest-wise?
I joined FlowWest last year as a junior software engineer and since then I’ve grown a lot! Our team supports one another to reach our personal and business goals, and with this support system I’ve taken on a lot more responsibilities and have had the chance to work on amazing projects.
What is something that everyday people can do to help their local watershed?
Be conscious of your water usage and water systems maintenance!
Where do you see the future of FlowWest?
FlowWest will soon be a prominent name in the water and ecosystem solutions space. I want to see the company gain more name recognition with our high-quality designs in a niche area of water data management.
