We recently launched the newest program for our community - introducing Champions! We know that there are lots of people building cool stuff, helping out in the community and keeping us on our toes by pushing the boundaries of what Spark technology can accomplish. We’re keeping it a bit loose now, but there will be published guidelines coming soon. In a nutshell, the Champions program is designed to sit between the general user level in our community, and the Elite, who have accomplished amazing things and been amazing as a source of support and assistance. It take A LOT to be inducted into the Elite, but we want to recognize the folks who are busy climbing the ladder to that level of expertise.
The idea is to have a level in our community where folks who are contributing actively, whether through intense development or helping out in the forums, can be recognized for their effort, as well as give them a united voice to help steer our future and how we interface with the community as a whole. While keeping it loose, we are building objective criteria for inclusion that will look something like this - note, these criteria are a work in progress:
• posts in project share
• general forum activity level
• posts in troubleshooting and getting started categories
• target of @references, likes
• quality of assistance given with regards to support
• lots of development work done via our development tools
• built or building products around our platform
@Christine is running this program and we’ll all keep you updated - the goal is for you all to know everything you need to succeed. The Champions are here to help! Some of the best and brightest in the forums are members, so don’t be surprised to notice the new “Champions” title in the forum, and if some of the Champions would stop by and introduce themselves that would be great
As one of the new “Champions” I will introduce myself:
I am Indra Schoonbrood, student at Fontys University of Applied Sciences in Eindhoven. I study Electrical Engineering, which is how I ended up here I really like tinkering with Spark or Arduino and coming up with projects to work on. So many ideas, so little money and even less time. Of all my courses, I like embedded connectivity the most, even though it took me 2 weeks to get a servo working in C with output compares and timers .
Fantastic idea! And I must say, as many others have, this is really such an amazing and helpful community. I feel like I meet great people here everyday.
As one of the champions, I can introduce myself. I have been a software engineer in the wireless industry for 10 years. I love hardware and embedded products, especially connected and wireless ones. I also love full stack development and creating awesome web apps.
I have been working on two projects with Spark, GoGlove and Bluz. Both use Bluetooth LE hardware to connect to the Spark cloud. GoGlove already went through Kickstarter and we will be launching Bluz up there soon. I am also talking to a few other companies about putting the BLE/Spark stack into their products.
Hope I can contribute to others projects, so let me know if you need help, especially when it comes to BLE!
Hi folks, I feel quite honored beeing invited into this venerable group of Champions
Apart from my IT background which I outlined in my profile, I'd confess that I got sort of adicted to this community. There is virtually no day I'm not online here - hence my post count
I just like to make use of the few things I knew already plus all the input I gathered being active with all of you awesome guys, to spread the word about the Sparkling awesomeness of the Spark products and this community.
Just as @TheHawk1337 said "so many ideas, so little [...] time".
Having published only a few libs (ports) and some other bits and bobs, I would like to give back more.
One other thing that limits my code output is, that I just can't decide what I like more: Help newcomers to overcome obstacles (with my limited insight) or pursue my own (dubious) projects with the need to push my own boundaries
But enough of myself - wonder who else will tell something about himself - pitty there are so little tech girls around here
I just can't believe how industrious Paul (aka @peekay123) and Brian (aka @bko) are - how do you do it? 2k+ posts AND loads of tutorials and lib ports and ...
I am originally from Germany but live now in South Carolina USA. I moved here when I was 7 years old and now 20 years later am expecting my first child next month (April 2015)!
I have no college education but I currently work in the IT department as an IT Lead/Programmer for a major automotive supplier. We primarily build and maintain data collection systems and also support and develop our SAP system/interfaces.
I’ve always loved making things happen since I was a little boy. I’ve been programming since I was 13 years old and recently started learning more about electronics (thanks to Arduino and Spark).
Some of the projects I’ve built with the Spark Core are:
@ScruffR and other new Champions, WELCOME aboard! Like all of you, we Elites have a great passion for making and Spark created an environment that allowed us to help others and get creative. I truly believe this is one of the most cooperative, fun and giving communities I have ever seen.
The timing of your “Championing” could not be better. With the Photon elevating the Core platform to a whole new level and the Electron giving us amazing “untethered” access, creativity will hit a whole new level. You are all deserving of your new designation and I personally can’t wait to interact with you all
About me… my name is Chris and I’m a sparkaholic. I started out designing pcb’s about 15 years ago for a couple of small companies but gave it up to make more money in the mines doing hard labour. From there I moved onto the oil rigs where I currently earn my crust. I still love designing things and building them. I would say my skills are hacker at best… I can hack a few bits of code together and make something work! The spark really got my hobby going again and I can’t stop thinking of the next project I could use it for.
Gee ! I feel as well quite honored to be into this group.
Just started posting in forum not a lot time ago (mostly reading since having five cores around).
I would like to be more in the spark revolution but I have a work to do, and it’s not so exciting, being a dinosaur programmer that, amongst other things, must mantain an huge and ancient codebase built on Informix-4GL (a product of the nineties). So I am trying hard to learn things like node, noSQL databases and-the-like. Heck, I started as an electronics guy and mom always told me: watching computers on the front is dangerous ! They have keyboards and monitors ! Should have listened… but now it’s too late
To be honest, I feel a little undeserving to be in the same Champion group as such dedicated community resources as @ScruffR (among others), but I will try my best.
I’ve lived in 4 different US states so far, but am back home in Wisconsin. I started out with a Comp Sci degree, did IT for about 10 years, and am now on the business analyst side of things for my day job where I write reports and advise on processes and specifications.
I fell into IoT when I moved to a new house with a surprisingly active sump pump. I rebuilt the sump with a controller and noticed it has a simple alarm circuit. It recommended this be connected to an external $150+ “phone dialer” that I felt was a silly choice of technology to still use in 2014. In looking for solutions, I found Spark. I basically solved that sump monitor idea in a week or two, but had ideas for many totally unnecessary but fun additions that I’ve been working on since. That experience very quickly multiplied into a whole suite of micro controllers for all kinds of purposes. I’ll soon be up to four Spark devices, 2 Arduinos, and a Adafruit Trinket. I’ve not really gotten into circuits/hardware in the past as it always seemed beyond my reach. With nice modern approaches like the Spark IDE crossing over to the hardware side seems easier than ever. My workshop basically has turned into a completely unplanned electronics project lab! I recently added a 3D printer and am pretty excited to make some custom Spark enclosures among other cool things.
I noticed right away people are crazy helpful and friendly here. Everyone here should be proud of the great community they’ve built.
I was very surprised to be part of this group, having been active on this forum for a short time.
I am self-taught on most of this. My undergrad was ME, not EE or computer science, but my brother and I were always tinkering with computers since an early age. I am now the CEO of an Industrial products company (he now writes software in Dresden and is a terrific musician) . We both still enjoy tinkering and came across Arduino several years back. We often share ideas and assist each other with some creative idea sharing, and a lot of tracking down compiler errors or bugs! I guess that collaboration has made the transition to the forums work so well for me.
I bought my first spark about a year ago, put the little brown box on top of my power supply and stared at it for a while. I finally started building and started to learn. My preconceived notion of “an Arduino with built-in WiFi” is now shattered and I’m off to the races.
I watched on the forum for a while but thought I would start to get engaged, trying to add to the community a little more than I’ve taken. I am persistent to a flaw (just ask my wife, it’s 3rd on her list of all my flaws) but that tunnel vision helps me drill through a lot of granite!
I am obsessed with time, clocks home automation (and old telephones) so don’t be surprised if you see a theme in my projects… I am currently working on my 21st century version of a cuckoo clock with my 9 year old son (who likes cuckoo clocks as much as I like Spark).
It’s an honor to be part of the Spark Champions team.
I’ve been around in this forum since before the first Spark Core batch was shipped. I’m always keeping up, reading and learning and more lately engaging more with the community, trying to give back what the amazing people from here has given me.
I’m specialized in Software Development (I do it for a living) but I’ve always loved breaking apart electronics since my childhood, what a nightmare for my parents. I’m self-taught in the Hardware side and been learning a good amount through the years, but still rough around the edges when it comes down to details.
Here’s to a growing community. Spark team, you are doing things well, very well, the world is lucky to have you.
Hi - it looks like I will be made a Spark Champion. Most of my experience is in web 1.0, Java and lately Android. My hardware experience is pretty limited - although I have been compelled to pick up a soldering iron in my Spark Projects
I am particularly impressed with the openness of the Spark Leaders. I really like the way Spark is heading and I hope they are at the front of the IOT race.
I really like tinkering with Spark or Arduino and coming up with projects to work on. So many ideas, so little money and even less time. Of all my courses, I like embedded connectivity the most, even though it took me 2 weeks to get a servo working in C with output compares and timers 
