Well—how did I get here? Ryan Boyle – The Martin Group
It’s time for another installment of our new regular blog feature, “Well—how did I get here?” featuring first-person stories of our team members and their interesting journeys to The Martin Group. Next up: Digital Development Supervisor Ryan Boyle. Take it away, Ryan.
First thing to know about me: I have too many interests and too little time—but that just means I never get bored.
I’m used to change. My parents were young when I was born, I lived with my mom, and we moved around quite a bit while we were still trying to find our way. I spent a lot of time being raised by family and family friends. Looking back, everyone seemed like a grown-up to little me, but now I realize I was basically raised by children. If you know me, that might explain a lot, but it takes a village and I’m grateful to everyone who chipped in to be there for me.
I think that change led to me learning how to overcome different challenges—and quickly. I began to enjoy that challenge and wanted to move on to new subjects when something became stagnant.
I excelled in school and was always ahead a year in courses for math and science. I played baseball as a kid and eventually started playing football. While on the varsity team in high school, I even had the privilege of participating in a game in Highmark Stadium. I even participated in powerlifting competitions every year during high school. (Boom.)
This all sounds like a straightforward journey, but there were so many other trails I wanted to go down. I was actually a huge nerd. When I wasn’t playing school sports, I would spend time with friends playing The Elder Scrolls, Pokémon, or Magic the Gathering all night. For me, being a Dark Elf that could conjure fire was a lot cooler than going to a party.
I got into parkour, allowing me to climb buildings and backflip off them. I got into video editing and visual effects. I loved video games and movies and enjoyed the idea of making them myself. I also enjoyed CAD and architectural drawing and seriously considered getting into architecture, too. There were lots of paths I wanted to go down.
But after graduating in the top 10 of my class, I decided to study mechanical engineering at the University at Buffalo.
After two years in college, I didn’t like the path I was on. I was learning about thermodynamics, but I wanted to do backflips and make videos. I started getting into music, teaching myself how to play drums and guitar. I wanted to switch gears, but was afraid that changing course so late in the game was taking the easy way out. Then, I had a heart-to-heart with a friend of mine. In his wisdom, he said that perhaps staying on my path and not taking a risk on something I wanted more was the real easy way out.
That struck a chord with me—so I pivoted.
I changed programs from engineering to media studies, swapping science for art. I had a new focus on video production and photography. I was in a cover band playing dozens of shows as the drummer and backup singer; got a job in a photography studio for a summer; and as a freelancer, even shot a couple weddings and did short ad videos for a local business. Also, while briefly considering a minor in game development, I took a few website and coding classes.
These would have a big impact later.
After my time at UB, I took a job doing quality control for LocalEdge, a Buffalo-based multimedia outfit. Little did I know my experience in this gig would enable my eventual arrival at The Martin Group.
Initially, I was simply reviewing websites for any quality issues, identifying errors, and sending them back to be fixed. I quickly realized I had the skillset to update these websites myself, so I transitioned to work as a website and SEO account coordinator, then eventually a fully dedicated web developer. Finally, I was in a position to bring designs to life with code, which enabled a fulfilling meld of my cavalcade of interests.
After seven years of this work, I arrived at my current desk at 620 Main St. inside Buffalo’s Theatre District.
After all the detours in my life, I’m happy to be where I am today. Many of those past destinations still have some connection to the work I do now. I’m coming up on five years here and I couldn’t be happier. I’m still a nerd who likes to make music and play games, but I now know what it’s like to do what I’m supposed to be doing.
Better late than never.
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