Developer Spotlight: Raymond Camden of American Express
Tags: javascript, graphql, webdev, react
Published: 2019-02-06 02:05:58

---
title: Developer Spotlight: Raymond Camden of American Express
published: true
description: In this installment of the Cosmic JS Developer Spotlight Series, we sat down with Raymond Camden, a Senior Software Engineer and Developer Advocate residing in Lafayette, Louisiana. Raymond has extensive experience in the technology space, having enjoyed stints at IBM, Adobe and AuthO prior to becoming a Senior Engineer for Developer Experience at American Express. Follow Raymond on Twitter, GitHub or LinkedIn, and enjoy the Q/A.
tags: javascript, GraphQL, web development, reactjs
---

In this installment of the Cosmic JS Developer Spotlight Series, we sat down with Raymond Camden, a Senior Software Engineer and Developer Advocate residing in Lafayette, Louisiana. Raymond has extensive experience in the technology space, having enjoyed stints at IBM, Adobe and AuthO prior to becoming a Senior Engineer for Developer Experience at [American Express](https://www.americanexpress.com). Follow Raymond on [Twitter](https://twitter.com/raymondcamden), [GitHub](https://github.com/cfjedimaster) or [LinkedIn](https://www.linkedin.com/in/raymondcamden/), and enjoy the Q/A.

![Raymond](https://thepracticaldev.s3.amazonaws.com/i/6toabqf1g4wqlyvatv8f.jpg)

**[Cosmic JS](https://cosmicjs.com): When did you first begin building software?**
Raymond: I began on an Apple 2e (it may have been the +) back in the 80s. My initial reason was to cheat at games (ask me about hex editing for Bard's Tale) but after seeing Tron I was really inspired to become a coder. Boy was reality somewhat different...

**What is your preferred development stack?**
The web in general. I'd say mainly JavaScript and lately with Vue, but I'm passionate about the entire web stack. My favorite editor is Visual Studio Code (although I was a big Brackets fan for a while). When working on the back-end I'll still use JavaScript and Node.js.

**What past projects are you most proud of and why?**
I was big into MUD programming (multi-player online text adventure games, think Zork but with multiple players) and I built a framework to enable easier dialog creation and more thematic elements (time passing, etc). The code wasn't necessarily rocket science, but the end result - enabling more creativity - is something I'm really proud of.

Oh - and I built an app that scans your contacts, finds ones without pictures, and assigns a random cat picture. Yeah, I'm pretty proud of that too.

**What are some technologies you are excited about or want to learn more about?**
GraphQL for one. A lot of my work involves APIs and GraphQL feels like a real game changer. I'm incredibly excited about serverless and have been (slowly) playing with various different platforms and trying them out.

**Do you have any tips for new developers just starting to code?** 
For web developers, [MDN Web Docs](https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/) is the absolute best resource for learning, period. I'm a big fan of Node School as well since I like the interactive problem/solving experience. I'm also a big believer in building something that already existed. As programmers we've got DRY beaten into our skulls and that obviously makes sense, but when I'm learning a new language or platform, I'll build somethingvthat already exists, like a blog. That way I'm focused on the *how* of building it and not the *what*. The end result may be thrown away, but it's a great way to spend more time learning then trying to figure out what to do.


The [Cosmic JS Developer Spotlight Series](https://cosmicjs.com/community) is dedicated to showcasing developers that are building apps using modern tools. Learn how to Contribute to the Cosmic Community (and get rewarded 🎉) [here](https://cosmicjs.com/contribute). To stay connected with us follow us on [Twitter](https://twitter.com/cosmic_js) and [join the conversation on Slack](https://cosmicslack.now.sh).