Meet Our Team
The faculty and staff behind the classrooms.
We build the Web. So can you.
DigitalCrafts is the best-rated coding bootcamp in Atlanta and Houston, and is amongst the best-reviewed training programs in the country. Classes are intensive in-person experiences, transforming beginners into full stack software engineers with cutting edge skill sets, project portfolios, interview training, and career support. We also offer turnkey corporate training solutions for companies of all sizes.
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DigitalCrafts Team
All DigitalCrafts instructors are seasoned developers with years of actual engineering experience, and it shows up in the classroom. Our staff are passionate about software and love giving back to the tech community by training the next generation of #builders.
Max McChesney
Co-Founder, CEO
Max worked with a couple of startups before moving to Argentina, where he started a small web marketing service called Expat Assistants. He was a late bloomer to coding, but nowadays you can usually find him "upgrading" our site or building iOS apps in Swift. Max plays guitar, frequents concerts, and is a fan of the Dawgs.
Jake Hadden
Co-Founder, CEO
Jake is a UGA grad who began his career at Accenture as a management consultant. He then left for Interface, where he led a global innovation accelerator (think an internal shark tank). In addition to leading our career services team, Jake is also our in-house beginner and volunteer test subject for new curriculum projects.
Zakia Whiteside
Admissions Director Atlanta
Zakia was born and raised in Upstate, NY where she obtained a bachelors degree in Business Administration. She has 6+ years of Default Mortgage experience but her passion is customer service. Before entering the startup world she was an Assistant Manager at a multi-state law firm. Zakia is a natural social butterfly. You can find her curled up with a book, engaging in high-intensity interval training or exploring new restaurants around the city.
Chris Farr
VP of Corporate Services
Chris is a rare, born-and-raised Atlantan, and brings over 7 years of business development experience to the DigitalCrafts Corporate Services team. While he's not a coder, he certainly talks the talk, and connecting with customers, discovering their pain points, and delivering turnkey solutions is his passion. As for his inspiration and motivation: 3 young daughters!
Liz Obermeyer
Operations Manager Atlanta
Liz is a North Carolina native and has called Atlanta home for over two years. She comes from an Information Technology Staffing background and has worked with top corporations in Metro Atlanta. She has always had a passion and calling for education and technology. Liz loves running, dogs, and cheering on the Falcons.
Chris Aquino
Immersive Instructor Atlanta
Chris has been building websites and web applications for nearly two decades. During the last few years, he has spent his time teaching and writing about web development. In 2016, his book "Front-End Web Development: The Big Nerd Ranch Guide" was published. When not in front of a computer or a classroom, you can find Chris monitoring his big green egg with an Arduino, or wandering aimlessly around a bookstore.
Jonathan Martin
Immersive Instructor Atlanta
Jonathan has been consuming cheesecake for a decade, almost as long as his time building ambitious web apps and boring students with JavaScript in immersive bootcamps. The world cannot entirely be conquered from a 12-inch screen, so Jonathan trots the globe as a frequent international speaker at tech conferences and snaps landscape photography @ Yellowscale.com. If his laptop dies you may find him skipping up the mountains to catch golden hour.
Sam Luedke
Full Stack Flex Instructor Atlanta
Sam is a Lead Developer with over ten years of experience at companies such as Turner Broadcasting (Nascar.com, NBA.com), Cox Communications, and DICK's Sporting Goods. Sam specializes in UI engineering and currently leads a team in developing fast and reliable user experiences. In his free time he loves to watch The Arsenal or Atlanta United, traveling with his family and riding his road bike.
Adam Szaruga
Full Stack Flex Instructor Atlanta
Adam started his career as a mathematician before pivoting to web development and eventually entrepreneurial ventures. His award-winning startup EQIP combines a passion for coding and music, providing an audio plugin marketplace to make music production easier. At home, you can find Adam playing music in his recording studio or getting sweaty playing competitive Halo. Adam graduated from the University of West Georgia with a B.A. in Mathematics and from Georgia Tech with a B.S. in Computer Science.
Jason Ephraim
Campus Director Houston
Jason has led marketing and business development teams for several startups and companies across the globe. He also has experience in event planning, web development, and graphic design. Jason brings these skills, his love for reading anything Sci-Fi, and his passion for empowering others to DigitalCrafts' Houston campus.
Veronica Lino
Immersive Instructor Houston
Prior to DigitalCrafts, Veronica architected complex web applications for several leading Houston companies. Veronica's background is in aerospace engineering, where she developed simulation software for NASA's shuttle and Orion programs. Veronica has over 10 years of engineering experience, and when she's not behind a keyboard, she's practicing opera, pulling for the Texans, meeting new people. Veronica graduated from UT at San Antonio with a bachelors in Mechanical Engineering and holds a graduate certification in Sub Sea Engineering.
Mohammad Azam
Immersive Instructor Houston
No stranger to teaching, Azam joined DigitalCrafts after teaching at The Iron Yard until their close in 2017. An expert in iOS and web development, his development resume boasts large firms like AIG, Baker Hughes, and Schlumberger, and his most recent development gig was with Blinds.com, a Home Depot company. You can find 8+ of Azam's personal apps on the App Store, where "Vegetable Tree" was named 'best gardening app' by Apple! Azam is an active speaker on all things development (most recently blockchain), and loves to travel in his spare time.
Amanda Shih
Flex Instructor Houston
Amanda empowers and inspires people to get creative with coding and #building. For the past four years, she's also spread her enthusiasm for technology to Houstonians, K-12 and beyond, through 'Coding in Minecraft', 'Drawing with JavaScript', 'Rails Girls', and many other workshops at Code Park. Before that, Amanda worked as a full stack software engineer at OpenStax, 2nd.MD and SimpApply.
Chris Oakman
Flex Instructor Houston
Chris has been writing web applications for over a decade, with a focus on front-end design and development. He has worked at several startups, as well as cPanel, PROS, and Cisco Systems. He is the author of several open source libraries and a regular speaker at user groups and tech conferences. In short, he's passionate about development, teaching, and he's an ace behind the podium.
Lillian Wakefield
Career Services Director
Lillian grew up in California where she graduated with a bachelor’s degree from the University of California, San Diego. She spent the next several years in consulting and later transitioned to teaching. She draws on both her practical experience and classroom teaching skills to provide the best possible services for graduating students. Lillian loves to travel, lives in Mexico City, and spends her free time dancing, exploring, and eating tacos.
Shar'nee Francis
Admissions Advisor, Houston
Shar’nee hails from The Bronx, NY, where she obtained a bachelors degree in Business Administration from Fordham University. She worked as 'Career Developer' with DevBootCamp, and is an alumni of The Iron Yard, so you could say she's familiar with bootcamps! Shar’nee has experience building with a JS, React, Nodejs stack and still moonlights as a freelance Wordpress/Drupal developer. As a Mom, Shar’nee is raising an amazing 8 year old boy :)
Karen Paul
Office Manager
Karen hails from South Carolina, but now calls the Peach State her home. An accountant by trade, Karen has been making back offices hum for 'longer than she'd like to say!' Specializing in software start ups, several local companies fall under her purview. When she's not watching the finances like a hawk, she's on the beach listening to some of her favorite tunes.
We build the Web. So can you.
Launch Application
I graduated from DigitalCrafts about two weeks ago, and have already had multiple interviews, one job offer (which I accepted), and for the first time in my professional life feel like I have options and control of my career.
- Eli, Software Engineer @ Insiten
It’s been a little over a month since I graduated from DigitalCrafts and I just landed my first developer position. I can definitely thank DigitalCrafts for that.
- Dan, Web Developer @ Turner Broadcasting
I graduated from DigitalCrafts almost two months ago and I can honestly say that enrolling this immersive coding school was one of the best decisions I've made in my adult life.
- Shirlette, Node.js Developer @ Merchant eSolutions