Paladin People – Matthew Davenport
Matthew helps engineer the PaladinCloud™
When Matthew Davenport joined Paladin Data Corporation, he worked on a little bit of everything to get to know the software – how it works and what it does. A self-described “hands-on” learner, his quick study earned him a place working on the PaladinCloud™ system.
“It can be used by stores for document storage – purchase orders and inventory photos among others,” Matthew explains. “I’m working on the back-end storage system, integrating it into point of sale and helping with other system integrations.”
While he has worked on other projects over the past year, the singular focus on one project is slightly different for Matthew. You see, he’s not your typical software engineer. While many people in the industry take a singular interest in computers and programming early in life and remain hyper-focused on their practice, Matthew took a more circuitous route to his career in technology.
A native of the San Francisco Bay Area, he joined the Marine Corps right out of high school. He spent four years at Camp Pendleton with deployments in Japan and Australia, where he specialized in working with TOW anti-tank guided missiles and trained with the Australian Defense Force.
When his stint ended, he returned to the school at De Anza Community College before transferring to Santa Clara University, where he got a Bachelor of Science degree in computer engineering.
“I was always into computers – PC gaming, building my own computers,” he says, which kind of led him to Paladin and Bend, Oregon.
Matthew and his girlfriend, Emma, visited Bend, where Paladin’s support and development campus is located, over the previous few years, so when jobs became available for both in Central Oregon, it was kind of a no-brainer to make the move. Emma works for the Deschutes National Forest Service. They are pictured above backpacking in the Mount Jefferson Wilderness northwest of Bend.
Matthew and Emma have taken up splitboarding as a way to explore the backcountry of the Central Cascades. A splitboard is essentially a snowboard that splits into two halves which can be used as skis for traveling uphill or touring. They allow snowboarders to more easily ascend hills, like cross-country skiers, and then snowboard down once the splits are clipped back together.
They also enjoy backpacking and paddleboarding in the many lakes and rivers of Central Oregon.
“I love Bend. It’s a pretty great place to live,” he says.