About
Activity
4K followers
-
💻 Donovan Brown reposted this💻 Donovan Brown reposted thisWhat a night at TCNewTech! First, a huge thank you to my 20Fathoms team. Between illness and packed calendars, you still showed up and worked hard to make this event happen. I'm so grateful to work alongside you. Shea Petaja, your moderating was amazing. I've heard so much positive feedback, and the room felt authentic and engaged all night! To every pitch finalist: getting on that stage takes guts, and you all brought it. Congratulations to Kalob Hagen Luigi Solutions on taking first place, Novelty Air on winning Audience Choice and an Emerging Startup Award, and Codura and New Earth Network for receiving Emerging Startup Awards! Thank you to our sponsors who make these nights possible. A special thank you to Norm Plumstead of Honor Bank for joining us onstage to talk about how relationships drive business. And to Abra Berens of Everyday Cookery, thank you for a wonderful conversation about the power of community and how we support one another through food and learning. This is what Northern Michigan's startup community is all about: showing up for each other. See you at the next one! #TCNewTech #20Fathoms #TraverseCity #Entrepreneurship #StartupCommunity #NorthernMichigan
-
💻 Donovan Brown reposted this💻 Donovan Brown reposted thisAre you a local small business owner concerned about the potential impact of cyber threats yet confused about what to do? This practical, jargon-free workshop will equip you to fight back and keep your business secure. You can sign up at this link: https://lnkd.in/gTQWsJyH
-
💻 Donovan Brown reposted this💻 Donovan Brown reposted thisWant to learn how I make my agents work together? Well come find out for yourselves! October 20th I am honored to be presenting for the Detroit Agentic Speaker Night. Thank you to Irene Nunziata - let’s get a roll call on who is going to be there?!?!!!!!! https://luma.com/n6jplzy1DetroitAgentic Speaker Night: Beyond One Agent 🤖w/ Justin Coleman · LumaDetroitAgentic Speaker Night: Beyond One Agent 🤖w/ Justin Coleman · Luma
-
💻 Donovan Brown reposted this💻 Donovan Brown reposted thisWe missed Fable 5.1, but not this time! Detroit, let's build something with Opus 5.5 and Sonnet 5.5! After an incredible first Claude Workshop Day in August, we're back. On Tuesday, Oct 6 (6–9 PM), we're hosting a Claude Community Build Day at RIVET Work: three hours to get hands-on with Claude's newest model, Opus 5.5, and walk out with something you made. Pick a track: → Delight: build something surprising, beautiful, or fun → Breakthrough: build something you couldn't build before → Everyday: build something that solves a real problem in your life Go solo or team up, then show off what you built in a two-minute demo at the end. Every attendee gets $100 in Claude API credits. Pizza, stickers, and a surprise gift for the best demo are on us. It's free, and all you need is a laptop and some curiosity. Huge thanks to RIVET Work for opening their doors, and to the crew making it happen: Saeb A. Marc Mojica Jesse Chang Kenneth Yesh and Siteng Yu Reserve your spot: https://lnkd.in/diT_9yWc
-
💻 Donovan Brown reposted thisWe are looking for volunteers to help support our Mock Interviews. If you have an hour you can commit on Friday, October 16th, we'd love to have you join us. Whether you are a tech professional or not, your feedback can impact our learners. We hope you will consider joining us!💻 Donovan Brown reposted this📅 Got 1 hour? You could help launch someone’s tech career. Per Scholas Detroit is looking for volunteer interviewers for our IT Support Mock Interviews on Friday, October 16th. You do not need to be in tech to volunteer! If you have 1 hour, you can volunteer virtually or in person, to conduct a mock interview and provide feedback that can help an emerging tech professional build confidence and prepare for their next opportunity. Your presence could be the difference between “I’m nervous” and “I’m ready.” If you’re passionate about supporting emerging talent and investing in Detroit’s workforce, we’d love to have you volunteer! Interested? Message Claire Bogrow (cbogrow@perscholas.org) to get connected!
-
💻 Donovan Brown reposted this💻 Donovan Brown reposted thisSave this for the next time someone tells you working in Tech needs a degree.
-
💻 Donovan Brown reposted this💻 Donovan Brown reposted thisThis upcoming Monday, September 21, 2026, AI Collective: Detroit is hosting an AI Governance event with AIQA Global . AIQA Global is an independent AI governance rating firm focused on measuring enterprise AI governance quality. Through its AIQ™ Score, AIQA evaluates AI governance across five areas: Strategic Alignment, Oversight & Accountability, Technical Robustness, Responsible AI & Compliance, and Adaptability & Education. During this event, we’ll discuss: • The importance of AI governance • How AI governance applies to software engineers and developers • What AI governance means for startups and organizations • How AI governance applies across different industries • How to move from theoretical AI governance concepts to practical implementation The goal is to give our audience a stronger understanding of AI governance and, most importantly, how these concepts can be applied in real-world AI development and deployment. If you work in software, AI technology, or are interested in responsible AI, join us for the conversation. You can sign up using this link! https://lnkd.in/ez2N5ebULearn about AI Governance w/ AIQA Global (w/ The AI Collective) · LumaLearn about AI Governance w/ AIQA Global (w/ The AI Collective) · Luma
-
💻 Donovan Brown reposted this💻 Donovan Brown reposted thisMy next tech talk is set for Saturday with Compass Detroit on #ProjectNOMAD
-
💻 Donovan Brown liked this💻 Donovan Brown liked thisYou asked for more hackathons. We added 101 more. FindHackathons launched with 73. It now lists 174, across 31 states and DC, which makes it the biggest directory of collegiate hackathons on the internet. That happened because of you. Since launch, students have signed up, shared it, and told me which hackathons were missing, and organizers have reached out to get theirs listed. Thank you. Every message turned into a listing. What you get now: → 174 college hackathons in one place, with dates, application status, sponsors and location → What's open and what closes next, at a glance → Estimated dates (marked ~) for hackathons that haven't announced yet, so you can plan early → A verified certificate for most collegiate hackathon wins And we're not stopping at college. Industry and community hackathons are next. Organizers: if you host a hackathon, I want to hear from you. Your listing is yours to run: keep your dates and applications up to date, and customize the certificate your winners receive. Message me directly or write to hello@findhackathons.com
-
💻 Donovan Brown reacted on thisAttended another amazing session with Women in Tech Birmingham this Tuesday. Thank you to the organisers: Julia Gray, Garima Khakurel, Ana Wada, speakers and attendees. Really enjoyed Dr Honey Yadav, Ph.D. talk on integrating AI within our respective industries under the guidance of domain experts, while also recognising when NOT to use it. AI shouldn’t automatically be equated with productivity and efficiency. It can sometimes create more delays when bugs or issues arise, especially if the we haven't taken the time to understand what was built. There are no shortcuts to instinct and deep knowledge in any field. That kind of understanding takes time to develop through repetition, mistakes and practice. The more we understand our work, the better equipped we are to question what AI gives us and use it well. Listening to Dr Claire Doswell again after a few years brought back many memories from School of Code. Her talk on competence vs confidence was spot on. I loved the bit she shared on 'normalising not knowing'. How many times do we shrink back from participation because we don’t have the perfect/complete answer?💻 Donovan Brown reacted on thisAnother fantastic evening with our community!🩷 We hosted our Tech Talks yesterday, with two exceptional speakers: Dr Honey Yadav, Ph.D. and Dr Claire Doswell. Both sessions were engaging, and so were the discussions that followed. Dr Honey spoke on upskilling in the age of AI, while Dr Claire explored how to discover what you're capable of, between confidence and competence. Both shared valuable insights that resonated with our members. We're extremely grateful to Dr Honey and Dr Claire for giving their time and energy to create and deliver such excellent sessions for our community.🙌 To all the women in tech who joined us, shared their ideas, took part in the discussions and brought the warm energy you always do: thank you for making our events what they are. None of this would be possible without your constant support.🫶 Thank you also to our volunteers, Rajea Bilal and Brenda Gollogly, for supporting the event behind the scenes.🌻 And finally, we are so grateful to Ryan Lee and Bluetel for opening your space to host us and welcoming our members with warmth, food and drinks, and also for all the support and coordination during the event. Your support means so much in helping us bring events like this to our community. If you joined us yesterday, please do share your experience. We'd love to hear from you! #WomenInTech #WomenInTechBirmingham #TechTalks #AI #Upskilling
-
💻 Donovan Brown reacted on this💻 Donovan Brown reacted on thisScope-to-Book: a booking page that scopes the job before it hits a contractor's calendar. Built for the Lovable x Contra challenge. scopework.lovable.app/demo #lovablechallenge
-
💻 Donovan Brown liked this💻 Donovan Brown liked thisMeet Jacob Bryant tech enthusiast, entrepreneur, and DSDT College student. Jacob used what he learned in our AI Prompt Specialist program to help grow his trading card business in Madison Heights. He also studied Network+ and Security+, building his skills in technology. With support from DSDT’s team, Jacob landed a role at TaskUs in Detroit, working with Waymo’s autonomous driving vehicles. We’re proud to celebrate Jacob’s hard work and success! Discover your next opportunity at https://dsdt.edu #DSDTCollege #StudentSpotlight #StudentSuccess #Waymo #TechCareers #Detroit
-
💻 Donovan Brown liked this💻 Donovan Brown liked thisGrowing a business. Building a career. Meet DSDT College student Jacob Bryant. Through our AI Prompt Specialist program, Jacob learned practical ways to help run and grow his trading card business in Madison Heights. With support from DSDT’s team, he also landed a role at TaskUs in Detroit, working with Waymo’s autonomous driving vehicles. Watch Jacob share his story and how DSDT helped him take his next step. Explore your next step at https://dsdt.edu #DSDTCollege #StudentSuccess #Waymo #TechCareers #Detroit
-
💻 Donovan Brown reacted on thisThank you!! CommuniTV💻 Donovan Brown reacted on thisAnd the winners are in! A huge congratulations to Jamal Carter of Inspiry, Evol Johnson of CommuniTV and Zanne Ngatchou of Wattupdoe, the top three winners of the 2026 Venture 313 AI Buildathon! These builders took on real challenges facing Detroit and turned their ideas into working digital solutions, ultimately taking the stage to pitch what they created at the Buildathon Showcase. The Buildathon was all about seeing what can happen when Detroit’s creativity, problem-solving and emerging technology come together, and this year’s builders delivered. Congratulations to our winners and to everyone who brought an idea, built something new, and helped make this year’s Buildathon happen!
-
💻 Donovan Brown liked this💻 Donovan Brown liked thisOne of the most useful lessons I learned while building React projects wasn’t about React. It was Git. As I built more projects, I realized that good code is only part of the work. You also need a simple way to manage and protect it. A few of my Git habits: → Commit often with clear messages → Use branches when experimenting → Push your work regularly → Check your recent commits → Keep your history clean Over time, Git became more than just a tool. It became part of my workflow. Every commit gives you a checkpoint. Every branch gives you room to experiment. Every merge teaches you something. You don’t need to learn everything at once. Start using Git early. The habits will naturally grow as you build. Here’s my GitHub if you’d like to connect: https://github.com/Sobia-s Drop yours below too. I’d love to check it out! 👀
Experience & Education
Licenses & Certifications
Volunteer Experience
-
Detroit Chapter Board Member
The AI Collective
- Present 10 months
Science and Technology
Volunteering as a board member participating in daily weekly calls with fellow Detroit Chapter Board team members and brainstorming sessions for workshop setup, planning, and hosting events.
Website: https://www.aicollective.com/chapters/detroit -
Lead Presenter
Devs Create 313
- 1 month
Science and Technology
Led a watch and build presentation on Google AI Studio, walking through The features and capabilities of Google AI Studio. Built and Demo a few apps Live using Integrated features such as speech-to-text Google’s AI Gemini model and Google Firebase with database storage and user authentication.
-
Public Speaker
Per Scholas
- 1 month
Science and Technology
Volunteered as a guest speaker for Per Scholas Detroit students of the IT Support cohorts, sharing my career journey in IT, from starting as a Computer Support Technician to becoming a self-taught Web and Software Developer through online training programs.
Discussed the challenges, setbacks, and failures I experienced along the way, and how I used those lessons to pivot, adapt, and grow successfully in the tech industry. Provided practical strategies for breaking into tech, upskilling…Volunteered as a guest speaker for Per Scholas Detroit students of the IT Support cohorts, sharing my career journey in IT, from starting as a Computer Support Technician to becoming a self-taught Web and Software Developer through online training programs.
Discussed the challenges, setbacks, and failures I experienced along the way, and how I used those lessons to pivot, adapt, and grow successfully in the tech industry. Provided practical strategies for breaking into tech, upskilling effectively, and navigating today’s increasingly competitive job market.
Takeaways for attendees:
- Real-world lessons from transitioning into web and software development
- How to turn failures into actionable learning opportunities
- Proven strategies for breaking into tech and advancing an IT career
- Updated guidance for standing out and avoiding common early-career mistakes -
Developer
Code For Good West Michigan
- 1 month
Science and Technology
Volunteered as a Developer for a weekend long 3 day event in Grand Rapids Michigan helping various nonprofit organizations with their website and web app updates and configurations. My non-profit was "Humanitarian Need International". We create an online digital presence that includes a website, social media accounts, and digital assets where and users members can look up information about the organization, sign up for to become a volunteer, a donation box, and MailChimp newsletter in a team of…
Volunteered as a Developer for a weekend long 3 day event in Grand Rapids Michigan helping various nonprofit organizations with their website and web app updates and configurations. My non-profit was "Humanitarian Need International". We create an online digital presence that includes a website, social media accounts, and digital assets where and users members can look up information about the organization, sign up for to become a volunteer, a donation box, and MailChimp newsletter in a team of 4 members including myself of Designers, UI/UX, A Team Lead, Developers. Website was created using Squarespace by request of the client.
-
Public Speaker - Detroit Business Symposium's AI for Hustlers conference
Black Leaders Detroit
- 1 month
Science and Technology
Delivered a session focused on how entrepreneurs and startups can begin leveraging AI today to increase productivity, enhance creativity, and drive smarter, sustainable growth. Shared forward-looking insights on the evolving AI landscape and practical steps businesses can take right now.
Key topics covered:
- Practical AI Workflows & Tools: Simple, accessible methods any business can adopt to streamline operations.
- The Business Case for AI: How AI improves efficiency…Delivered a session focused on how entrepreneurs and startups can begin leveraging AI today to increase productivity, enhance creativity, and drive smarter, sustainable growth. Shared forward-looking insights on the evolving AI landscape and practical steps businesses can take right now.
Key topics covered:
- Practical AI Workflows & Tools: Simple, accessible methods any business can adopt to streamline operations.
- The Business Case for AI: How AI improves efficiency, enables personalized customer experiences, and frees teams to focus on strategy, client work, and innovation.
- Responsible Adoption: A candid discussion on AI limitations, ethical considerations, potential pitfalls, and the guardrails needed for safe and effective implementation. -
Conference Speaker for the Digital Empowerment Summit 2025
Black Tech Saturdays
- 1 month
Science and Technology
Did a presentation at Black Tech Saturday's Digital Empowerment Summit 2025, where I shared my self-taught methods for learning tech skills, demystifying the notion that you need a degree, massive funds, or to be a “genius” to succeed in tech no matter your background.
At the end of my presentation I provided digital take home resource for further strategies and tips for careers path, soft skill, utilizing AI to learn faster, alternatives for making side income with tech skills.…Did a presentation at Black Tech Saturday's Digital Empowerment Summit 2025, where I shared my self-taught methods for learning tech skills, demystifying the notion that you need a degree, massive funds, or to be a “genius” to succeed in tech no matter your background.
At the end of my presentation I provided digital take home resource for further strategies and tips for careers path, soft skill, utilizing AI to learn faster, alternatives for making side income with tech skills.
This was an evolution to last year's Digital Empowerment Summit talk. -
Workshop Facilitator
Detroit Blockchain Collective
- 1 month
Science and Technology
Facilitated a hands-on workshop exploring the intersection of AI and modern software development.
I talked on emerging trends in AI-powered development and how AI tools can accelerate and enhance application building. We had attendees ranging from complete beginners to senior developers through collaborative group projects, culminating in team presentations of newly created applications.
Helped foster an inclusive, engaging learning environment where participants gained both technical and…Facilitated a hands-on workshop exploring the intersection of AI and modern software development.
I talked on emerging trends in AI-powered development and how AI tools can accelerate and enhance application building. We had attendees ranging from complete beginners to senior developers through collaborative group projects, culminating in team presentations of newly created applications.
Helped foster an inclusive, engaging learning environment where participants gained both technical and practical experience.
This was a collaborative efforts between:
- Developers of Detroit
- Detroit Blockchain Collective
- Detroit Vibe Coding Group -
Lead Instructor - Lovable.dev with Supabase workshop
JOURNi
- 1 month
Science and Technology
Volunteered as a Lead Instructor for an Adult focused Lovable.dev workshop in partnership with JOURNi. I demonstrated how to build custom full-stack web applications using Loveable.dev platform and connected the app to Supabase for user authentication and database storage.
-
Technical Volunteer / Lead Web Developer Instructor
Developers of Detroit
- 1 year
Science and Technology
Meet weekly to bi-weekly with the founders of Developers of Detroit for planning out workshops and ideas and opinions to launch a series of workshops from Web Development, Mobile App Development, and Manufacturing. Assist with website and AI automation support for Developers of Detroit.
-
Lead Instructor - Intro to Supabase Workshop
JOURNi
- 1 month
Science and Technology
Volunteered as a Lead Instructor for an Adult focused Supabase workshop in partnership with JOURNi. I developed the slides and did a hands on workshop of a prebuilt mini front end web application. I guided the attendees to Setup their own databases with Supabase and write some JavaScript code that focused on the core functionalities of user authentication, reading, writing, updating data in Supabase.
-
Lead Instructor - AI and Prompt Engineering Workshop
JOURNi
- 1 month
Science and Technology
Volunteered as a Lead Instructor for an Adult focused Prompt Engineering and AI / LLM workshop in partnership with JOURNi. I developed the slides and when over best practices, tips, security practices when working with AI. I did a website tour of ChatGPT, Claude, Prompt Engineering Techniques, and other AI power tools such as Canva, Perplexity, Notion.so, Zapier, Elevenlabs.io. Lastly, I shared resources for further learning with AI.
-
Developer
Code For Good West Michigan
- 1 month
Science and Technology
Volunteered as a Developer for a weekend long 3 day event in Grand Rapids Michigan helping various nonprofit organizations with their website and webapp updates and configurations. My non-profit was "Richland Food Pantry". We updated their single page barebones website to multipage website redesign where and users members can look up information about the organization, sign up for volunteer shifts via an interactive calendar, and community feedback form with form error handling in a team of 7…
Volunteered as a Developer for a weekend long 3 day event in Grand Rapids Michigan helping various nonprofit organizations with their website and webapp updates and configurations. My non-profit was "Richland Food Pantry". We updated their single page barebones website to multipage website redesign where and users members can look up information about the organization, sign up for volunteer shifts via an interactive calendar, and community feedback form with form error handling in a team of 7 members including myself of Designers, UI/UX, A Team Lead, Developers, a QA. Using the skills of HTML, CSS, JavaScript, WordPress, and PHP.
-
Conference Speaker for the Digital Empowerment Summit 2024
Black Tech Saturdays
- 1 month
Education
Did a presentation at Black Tech Saturday's Digital Empowerment Summit, where I shared my career journey from a Computer Support Technician to a Self-Taught Web Developer. I discussed the challenges I faced and how I overcame them. Additionally, I introduced my mentorship program, which helps guide others in tech, enabling them to avoid the same mistakes I made along the way.
-
Lead Instructor
100 Black Men of America, Inc.
- 7 months
Science and Technology
Instructed a monthly coding classes for 100 Black Men of Greater Detroit Inc. Lead by Mr. Don Ferguson in partnership with JOURNi held at Wayne County Community College District in Detroit Michigan. Where I teach Web Development focused workshops for both Junior High School and High School kids. Explaining and teaching jargon free easy to understand concepts, answer questions and assist students who are falling behind in the workshops.
-
Developer (Floater)
Code For Good West Michigan
- 1 month
Science and Technology
Volunteered as a Developer for a weekend long event in Grand Rapids Michigan helping various nonprofit organizations with their website and webapp updates and configurations. As a Floater my role was assisting various team pods on their projects ranging from JavaScript, CSS, Wordpress, PHP, and a bit of Graphic Designer who are not as familiar or may need a second pair of eyes.
-
Lead Instructor / Instructor Assistant
JOURNi
- Present 8 years 8 months
Science and Technology
Instruct bi-monthly coding classes for JOURNi held Youth Tech Exploration Program at the Ford Resource and Engagement Center in Detroit Michigan. Where I teach two sets of coding and technology focused workshops for both Grade School and Middle School kids. Projects and Activities include Website Development, Mobile Development, LittleBit's, Scratch.mit. Explain and teach jargon free easy to understand concepts, answer questions and assist kids who are falling behind in the workshops.
-
Score Judge
AccelerateKID®, Kids+Entrepreneurship+Tech
- 1 month
Science and Technology
Volunteer as a Judge alongside 3 other Score Judges others for 17 student graduates of the AccelratedKID tech/entrepreneur program as the graduates present demo slides of their final projects. Scores were based on the AccelratedKID's 4Cs, Eye Contact, Communication, Confidence. Award ceremony was given at the end of the event.
-
Developer Program Board Committee
DSDT
- Present 4 years 7 months
Science and Technology
Volunteer bi-annually as a board committee member to give constructive feedback and suggestions on DSDT's adult educational Developer Training Program alongside 4 DSDT Board Members.
We have discussion topics on the following subject matters:
- The Program Length
- Program Objectives
- Learning Activities
- Training Materials and Tools
- Instructional Materials
- Work Place Ethics -
Mentor
Coding Coach
- 3 months
Science and Technology
Volunteer as a Technical Coaching Mentor. I get request online through my Coding Coach Profile from individuals who are seeking a mentor to guide mentees to becomes successful in coding and front-end development. I provide guidance on leaning how to code, career advice, weekly one hour sessions through Google Hangouts.
-
Mentor
Co-Labs
- 3 years 4 months
Science and Technology
Volunteer as a Mentor helping with space setup, food runs, assisting CoLabs members with personal projects and answering questions, and give technology-based talks at special CoLab events using presentational slides.
CoLabs is an open, inclusive tech and developer community where everyone is welcome no matter their skill level or background. Our mission is to bring people who are passionate about technology together to network, learn, and grow their skills in the software field…Volunteer as a Mentor helping with space setup, food runs, assisting CoLabs members with personal projects and answering questions, and give technology-based talks at special CoLab events using presentational slides.
CoLabs is an open, inclusive tech and developer community where everyone is welcome no matter their skill level or background. Our mission is to bring people who are passionate about technology together to network, learn, and grow their skills in the software field.
My Talks:
- Navigating through JavaScript
- A Guide through Mobile Development
- A Guide through React Native
https://www.detroitlabs.com/colabs/ -
Software Developer
Connect 313
- 3 months
Science and Technology
Volunteered as a Front-End Developer developing a web based internet speed test app for Connect 313 with a team of 7 Developers including myself and one UI/UX Designer using Agile Methodologies.
https://www.connect313.org/ -
Lead JavaScript Instructor
Detroit Black Tech
- 7 months
Science and Technology
Volunteer as a lead JavaScript Instructor to members of Detroit Black Tech who are interested on leaning JavaScript programming. We meet bi-weekly at Flyball Labs or Collider Altimetrik. I create custom slides that explain JavaScript programming concepts and have the students practice those concepts through hands on learning lessons on CodeCademy.com.
-
Instructor at Microsoft's Man Code Event at WCCCD
Microsoft
- 1 month
Science and Technology
Participated in Microsoft's Man Code Event at Wayne County Community Collage District Co-Instructing two one hour sessions of basic Web Development and coding workshops to Junior High School students using slide presentations and assisted students who needed help or have fallen behind.
-
Speaker at Hour of Code event at Vernor Elementary School
Code.org
- 1 month
Science and Technology
Attended as a guest speaker at the Microsoft's Hour of Code event at Vernor Elementary School. Assisted the Elementary Teacher with video Skype setup session. The Students participated in Minecraft coding exercises. Gave a presentation about my background as a Developer and how I got started learning code and answered all questions and ways to get started to learn to code online. Showed the Students Mashable.com videos on the Spider Robot and Ghost Minotaur Robot and how the robots are…
Attended as a guest speaker at the Microsoft's Hour of Code event at Vernor Elementary School. Assisted the Elementary Teacher with video Skype setup session. The Students participated in Minecraft coding exercises. Gave a presentation about my background as a Developer and how I got started learning code and answered all questions and ways to get started to learn to code online. Showed the Students Mashable.com videos on the Spider Robot and Ghost Minotaur Robot and how the robots are programmed with code.
-
Technical Coach
AngelHack
- 1 month
Science and Technology
Volunteered as a Technical Coach at the 1st annual DHack Hackathon hosted by AngelHack and Wayne State University. Provided technical and or non-technical assistance to various teams on their projects. Informed teams about event locations, updates, meal servings, and optional technical workshops that were provided for all participants of the DHack Hackathon.
-
Instructor for Intro to coding workshop at Trenton High School
Grand Circus
- 1 month
Science and Technology
Taught a free intro to coding workshop hosted by Grand Circus at the Trenton High School using JavaScript. Participants use Repl.it online code editor and running commands in the console. Using HTML based slider called Reveal.js we cover the following topics:
- Creating Variables
- Functions
- If Statements
- For Loops
- Arithmetic Operators
- Data Types
- Create Mini Projects -
Instructor for Intro to coding workshop
Grand Circus
- 1 month
Science and Technology
Taught a free intro to coding workshop hosted by Grand Circus at the Grand River Workplace using JavaScript. Participants use JSfiddle online code editor and running commands in the console. Using HTML based slider called Reveal.js we cover the following topics:
- Creating Variables
- Functions
- If Statements
- For Loops
- Arithmetic Operators
- Data Types
- Create Mini Projects -
Teacher Assistant
Girl Develop It
- 1 year 1 month
Science and Technology
Monitoring the activity of the students during the class and acting as a subject-matter-expert by troubleshooting and answering student questions individually.
-
Teacher Assistant
Apprend
- 1 month
Science and Technology
Teacher assistant for Intro to Programming class with Javascript, jQuery, Node.js, DOM, Command-line and API’s. Monitoring the activity of the students during the class and acting as a subject-matter-expert by troubleshooting and answering student questions individually.
-
Coding Tutor
N/A
- 5 months
Education
Personal one on one Tutor for a friend who is taking up an Intro to Computer Programing Class. I assist my friend on how to properly:
- Troubleshoot code, write code, break down code that is understandable to him
- Answer any questions regarding his course work
- Assist in properly installing needed programs for his class such as Raptor flowchart Interpreter and Python.
We meet up bi-weekly.
Projects
-
Hermes Agent News Scouter
- Present
Configured and setup a Raspberry Pi 5 that is running a 24/7 local home Hermes agent using Anthropic AI models that dose daily research on various topics when it comes to AI and Tech online, writes to database systems then push notifications to telegram messages app.
- CanaKit Raspberry Pi 5 Essentials Starter Kit (4GB RAM) for housing the Hermes agent
- Haiku / Opus Anthropic models for process and web searching using Open Router API
- Notion.io for cron job writing and reading…Configured and setup a Raspberry Pi 5 that is running a 24/7 local home Hermes agent using Anthropic AI models that dose daily research on various topics when it comes to AI and Tech online, writes to database systems then push notifications to telegram messages app.
- CanaKit Raspberry Pi 5 Essentials Starter Kit (4GB RAM) for housing the Hermes agent
- Haiku / Opus Anthropic models for process and web searching using Open Router API
- Notion.io for cron job writing and reading data into a Notion database
- GitHub repository for backing up the Hermes agent critical files and file changes on a weekly basis
- Telegram for morning briefing reports of what analysis status of the Cron jobs that has ran
- Excalidraw application for mocking up the system design -
Small Business Social Media Strategy Planner - Custom GPT + Google Gems AI
Developed an AI-powered Custom GPT that generates tailored social media marketing plans for small businesses across major platforms. The system collects business context and produces step-by-step, resource-aware strategies that prioritize practicality, consistency, and measurable impact—designed specifically for teams with limited time and budgets.
ChatGPT version: https://lnkd.in/gKUP7PM2
Google Gemini version: https://lnkd.in/g7pqHf4a -
313 Business Launch Pad
A custom GPT for estimate builder for small businesses with some Detroit style made at the AI Collective Detroit x Think Technologies OpenAI Custom GPT Hackathon along side team members John Gulbronson and Antonio Passariello. Our custom GPT placed 4th in the hackathon.
Link to project: https://chatgpt.com/g/g-68d5d55fb39c8191bcd7ca318747dd15-313-business-launch-padOther creators -
AI PDF Voice Reader
- Present
A web AI app that allows you to chat with your pdf files it is capped at the first two pages to save on tokens. The user can upload a file to the app then chat with a pdf file.
-
AI Fantasy Chat Realms AI Chatbot
Dungeons and Dragon's table-top RPG inspired Chatbot. Where you go on adventures in fantasy world, fight monsters, role dice, etc.
-
AI LinkedIn Post Generator
- Present
A web app for generating ideas for LinkedIn posts using AI based on the information the user provides in the text input. Users have the options to select a type of post style from inspirational, funny, and or casual.
-
Chill & Code Playlist
A PWA (Progressive Web App) that plays a verity of instrumental beats ranging from Lofi Hip-Hop, House, and Jazz using the using the React H5 Audio Player libary.
-
D12 Table Top
- Present
A dice rolling app I created for my friends who are starting to get into table top role playing games without investing into buy dice. Currently published in the iOS App Store for free.
-
Web Developer / Designer for @KISS (Keep It Simple Security) Re-design
A responsive re-design of the KISS@ website for a client who needed a makeover for her website. KISS is an online based library of various information and topics about business technology and best security practices.
-
JOURNi's Adult AI Workshop Series
-
Lead a 4 part once a month workshop series in partnership with JOURNi designed to help Adult professionals gain practical, hands-on experience with artificial intelligence skills and tools.
October 2025 - Intro to Prompt Engineering Workshop
November 2025 - Lovable.dev Workshop
December 2025 - Emergent AI
January 2026 - Zaiper Agents and Google AI Studio (voice Agents) -
Web Developer / Content Manager for Asare.INC
-
Web Developer / Designer and Content Manager for a small Residential & Commercial Home Improvement Company that service the Greater Detroit Area. I work very closely with my client to ensure that my designs and content management skills meet his expectations. My Responsibilities include:
- Developing and Designing Asare.INC's website
- Convert AsareINC pages into a WordPress Theme
- Managing and updating website content in WordPress
- Managing and promoting social media…Web Developer / Designer and Content Manager for a small Residential & Commercial Home Improvement Company that service the Greater Detroit Area. I work very closely with my client to ensure that my designs and content management skills meet his expectations. My Responsibilities include:
- Developing and Designing Asare.INC's website
- Convert AsareINC pages into a WordPress Theme
- Managing and updating website content in WordPress
- Managing and promoting social media accounts of Facebook Twitter and Instagram
- Keep consistent communication with any updates or requests -
Web Developer / Web Content Manager for 4 Pints Productions
-
Web Developer/Designer/Content Manager for an up and coming independent production company based in Royal Oak Michigan (Retired). Responsibilities include:
- Managing, updating website content by request of the company
Honors & Awards
-
Black Tech Saturdays’s Innovation & Growth Award
Johnnie Turnage and Alexia Turnage
This award recognition celebrates the outstanding contributions to the tech community and the unwavering commitment to innovation, leadership, and empowerment.
-
Agile Methodologies Practice Award for reaching Basecamp #1
Ford Motor Company
Team award for successfully demonstrating and maintaining Agile practices for reaching Base Camp #1 for Ford Owner website migration.
-
Microsoft Certificate of achievement
New Horizons Learning Center
Successfully completed "50322 Configuring and Administering Windows 7" an Official Microsoft Learning Product as prescribed by the Microsoft Corporation.
-
Employee of the Month
Brenda Grammy and Marilyn Morgan
Employee Recognitions
Brenda - I would like to start this applause for a cause for Donovan's Mom. She sure did raise him right! There has not been a time or reason that he is not willing to help someone. Even if it was NOT HIS JOB, He will go above and beyond Always a smile. Such a pleasure to be on my team.
Marilyn - I would like to nominate Donovan Brown for Employee of the Month. Something happened to a part of my computer and it needed to be totally reprogrammed. In the…Employee Recognitions
Brenda - I would like to start this applause for a cause for Donovan's Mom. She sure did raise him right! There has not been a time or reason that he is not willing to help someone. Even if it was NOT HIS JOB, He will go above and beyond Always a smile. Such a pleasure to be on my team.
Marilyn - I would like to nominate Donovan Brown for Employee of the Month. Something happened to a part of my computer and it needed to be totally reprogrammed. In the meantime, since Hilda (co-worker) was on vacation, I thought I just user her computer. As soon as I started to use her computer it immediately crashed and needed a computer part. Donovan assured me that it wasn't my fault. He had my computer up and running when he said that he would fixed Hilda's without her even knowing that it was broken (until now).
Donovan always has a no-problem, can-do attitude and he never makes fun of my lack of computer knowledge. He is an asset to Henryford Optimeyes and w're lucky to have him.
Organizations
-
AI Collective Detroit
Board Member
- PresentThe Detroit chapter of The AI Collective is part of a global nonprofit connecting over 200,000 founders, researchers, and operators across 100+ chapters. We believe Detroit is not just catching up to the AI revolution but helping lead it, bringing together builders, entrepreneurs, and curious minds through panels, hackathons, and meaningful conversations focused on real-world impact. https://www.aicollective.com/chapters/detroit
-
AI foundations (Online)
Regular Attendee
- PresentAn online membership hub that is dedicated through the skool.com platform dedicated to teaching and mentoring in an verity of AI concepts. https://www.skool.com/ai-foundations
-
Black Tech Saturdays
Regular Attendee
- PresentBlack Tech Saturdays, created by Johnnie & Alexa Turnage, is an organization that aims to empower and supporting Black professionals and entrepreneurs. Black Tech Saturdays provides a platform for skill development, networking, and community engagement within the tech community. Black Tech Saturdays organize events, workshops, and programs designed to enhance technical skills, foster professional growth, and create opportunities for all in the technology field. These events typically occur on…
Black Tech Saturdays, created by Johnnie & Alexa Turnage, is an organization that aims to empower and supporting Black professionals and entrepreneurs. Black Tech Saturdays provides a platform for skill development, networking, and community engagement within the tech community. Black Tech Saturdays organize events, workshops, and programs designed to enhance technical skills, foster professional growth, and create opportunities for all in the technology field. These events typically occur on Saturdays, hence the organization's name. https://www.blacktechsaturdays.com/
-
Detroit Black Tech
Member
- PresentMember of Detroit Black Tech Focused on building a community of Black individuals in the Detroit Tech Community that are highly valued. https://detroitblacktech.org/
-
Apprend - Detroit
Member
-Apprend is a meetup group on meetups.com of people who are passionate about software and technology education. Members learn about technology as a student, teach others about tech in a classroom/workshop environment, and or tech professionals that want to connect with other in a more casual and social setting. https://apprend.org/
-
Girl Develop It - Detroit
Instructor
-Mostly female coding group where everyone can learn in a supportive environment. Girl Develop It courses focus on coding, leveraging existing technology and having something to show for it (aka building sweet websites). Sponsors include Atomic Object and Great Lakes Coffee. http://www.girldevelopit.com/
Recommendations received
8 people have recommended 💻 Donovan
Join now to viewOther similar profiles
Explore more posts
-
Francisc-Daniel N.
Ever launch a project that looked *perfect* on paper, but then… crickets? 🦗 I've been there. Early in my career, we built this incredibly complex system. Technically, it was a masterpiece. We were so proud of the engineering! But user adoption? It was a crawl. We were so deep in the 'how' – the intricate code, the robust infrastructure – that we completely missed the 'who.' Our 'brilliant' dashboards turned into mazes for the actual users. We underestimated the power of clear visual communication and intuitive interaction to translate complex data into actionable insights. Add in global team communication hurdles – time zones, cultural nuances – and the whole project dynamic suffered. The turning point? Bringing in independent usability researchers. Getting that unbiased, external perspective on how *real* people interacted with our system was a game-changer. It gave us concrete, actionable UX guidelines that actually made sense. My biggest takeaway from that experience? IT project success isn't just about the tech. It's fundamentally about people: how they understand, how they collaborate, and how they *use* what you build. What's one 'human element' you've seen make or break a project? Let's discuss! 👇
-
Hope Johnson Gordon, MBA
No tech degree? No problem. This week’s blog breaks down 5 easy AI + automation tips every entrepreneur can use to make life (and business) run smoother. From smarter inboxes to time-saving design tools — it’s all about working less and creating more. Read the full blog here: https://lnkd.in/ebhx_kDG #HopesFulfilledAI #AutomationMadeSimple #EntrepreneurLife #SmallBusinessGrowth #WorkSmarterNotHarder #AIforBusiness
-
Shejal Gaonkar
Today I took a deep dive into what actually happens behind the scenes when we type a URL into the browser. It’s fascinating how many systems work together in milliseconds. 1️⃣ User Enters URL in Browser ->You type something like: www.example.com ->Browser starts the process to load the website. 2️⃣ Browser Checks Cache First ->Browser checks: ->Browser Cache ->Stored DNS records ->If data is already available and not expired → it loads directly. ->If not → it continues to DNS lookup. 3️⃣ DNS Resolution (Finding Server IP Address) The browser doesn’t understand domain names. It needs an IP address. Step-by-step DNS Process: 1. DNS Resolver ->Browser asks DNS Resolver (usually from ISP). ->“What is the IP of www.example.com?” 2. Root DNS ->If resolver doesn’t know, it asks Root DNS. ->Root DNS says: “Ask the TLD server.” 3. TLD DNS (Top Level Domain) ->Example: .com, .org ->TLD says: “Ask the Authoritative DNS.” 4. Authoritative DNS ->This server has the actual IP. ->Returns: 192.xxx.xxx.xxx 5. IP is sent back to browser Now browser knows where the server is located. 4️⃣ TCP 3-Way Handshake (Connection Setup) Before sending data, browser establishes connection with server. 3 Steps: 1. SYN → Browser says: “Can we connect?” 2. SYN-ACK → Server says: “Yes, let’s connect.” 3. ACK → Browser confirms connection. Now connection is established. 5️⃣ Browser Sends HTTP Request ->Browser sends: ->Request Header -> Method (GET) ->Cookies ->Browser info ->Accept types (Optional) Request body Server receives it. 6️⃣ Server Processes Request ->Server: ->Fetches data -> Runs backend logic ->Gets HTML file ->Sends back: ->Response Header Response Content (HTML, CSS, JS) 7️⃣ Browser Receives HTML Now browser starts rendering. 1. Parsing Process: HTML → HTML Parser 2. Creates DOM (Document Object Model) CSS → CSS Parser 3. Creates CSSOM DOM + CSSOM → Render Tree 8️⃣ Page Rendering ->Browser: ->Calculates layout -> Applies styles -> Paints pixels on screen Now the webpage becomes visible to the user. Understanding this flow helps frontend developers optimize performance, improve loading speed, and build better web applications. #WebDevelopment #Frontend #Browser #Networking #TechLearning
1 Comment
Explore top content on LinkedIn
Find curated posts and insights for relevant topics all in one place.
View top content