Rory McDaniel is a senior software engineer for Headspace. Many people may be familiar with the Headspace meditation app, but the company has now expanded into mental health with a new product called Headspace Care. He works on the Headspace software that coaches, therapists, and psychiatrists use to care for their patients. Patient security and privacy are always at the forefront of their work. “I love working for a company where our mission is to improve access to mental healthcare for the whole world. It’s pretty cool to use my powers for good.”
As a full-stack engineer, he works with Python and Typescript (both are general-purpose programming languages). He enjoys working on the backend, which often means finding and fixing bugs. “You need to really understand the problem and get creative in trying to find a solution. It can be tedious, it can take a while, but it’s always gratifying to finally find that solution.”
Extracurriculars
Rory is a lifelong musician. He started playing the French Horn at 9 years old and continued to get a bachelor’s, master’s, and nearly a Ph.D. in music education. As an adult, he’s played semi-professionally for various groups and continues to look for more opportunities as they come up. Rory continues to hone his skills by taking virtual lessons from a professional horn player in Los Angeles. He’s a regular player with the Hood College wind ensemble, and he’s also lent his vocal talents to the Frederick Chorale. “I’ve discovered that playing regularly is a vital part of my well-being,” he says.
Rory also enjoys cooking with homemade pizza and made-from-scratch biscuits, which are some of his favorite foods to make. He also discovered mindfulness meditation about 4 years ago. “It changed my life. I can’t say that I’m an expert, but I can say that learning to pay attention and recognize when you’re lost in thought is a transformational experience.”
Why we love Rory
There is so much to love about Rory. He is a well-rounded individual with a talent for fixing things. While writing this post, I was delightfully surprised to about his many differing interests. Restoring old cars, check. Playing the French horn, check. Singing in the Frederick Chorale, check. Making biscuits and pizza from scratch, check.
We love how Rory is always willing to listen, help, and be part of our community.
Q&A with Rory
How did you get into software development?
I started my career with PHP (a scripting language for web development), so I’ve done a fair amount of WordPress, and I’ve done a lot of Laravel (a backend language responsible for handling and processing data on a website).
Cowork Frederick members defined a shared set of values. Which one do you relate to most?
Tenacity really resonates with me. In our work lives and personal lives, things will get hard. It’s guaranteed (especially if you’re a parent!). At work, tenacity means that no matter how difficult the task, no matter how obscure the bug is, and no matter how daunting the project, I will find a way to get it done. I have a great team, so when I get stuck, I ask for help.
Being tenacious doesn’t always mean that you know what to do the first time, but you just keep at it. Then you’ll find that as you move on in your career, you get stuck on those little things much less often – and then you find new things to get stuck on, and the process continues (I mean this in a very positive way – we get to keep pushing the envelope and constantly be learning about new things).
Any fun Cowork Frederick stories that you’d like to share?
About a month or so before Halloween, Emily Lucas randomly just suggested that I should be Obi-Wan Kenobi for Halloween. I have no idea where that idea came from, but I instantly knew it was a great one. So, I bought the costume and borrowed my 19-year-old son’s lightsaber. It was an awesome Halloween, and my 11-year-old son and I had a great time as we went around the neighborhood.
I tend to be pretty quiet and haven’t had a lot of interactions with other members beyond conversation, but I really enjoy those opportunities when I have them. It’s great to have actual coworkers.
Who/What inspires you and keeps you going?
Without question, my kids are what keep me going. I work hard to provide for them, but also to provide an example for them. My kids are 21, 19, 14, and 11 – so it’s a pretty wide range. The older two are in college, and the younger two are in middle school and live with me half the time and their mom the other half of the time. It’s an incredible thing to see the people that they’re becoming.
Any tips for others who want to do similar work?
I get asked a lot about advice for people who are trying to break into programming since that’s exactly what I did. It’s *so* much easier now than when I was doing this. My advice to anyone who’s just starting out is to find the things that you’re interested in and just try them out.
Build a basic mobile app or website. Build something in a new language. Just keep trying things and see what fits. But once you start to get a general area that you seem to enjoy, start looking for problems that you have that could be solved with code. Need a way to organize your to-do list? Write something yourself instead of buying an app.
Don’t be afraid to ask questions, and have a “what does this button do?” kind of attitude. Those things will get you much farther. Please feel free to ask for help when you need it. I got a lot of help from people who were well-established in the business when I was learning, and I’m more than happy to pay it forward now (as are most of us in this line of work).
Why Cowork Frederick?
I’m at a point in my life where I’m actively seeking out friendships, and it doesn’t happen if you’re not around people. I also live roughly a mile from downtown, so in nice weather, I like to just walk in rather than drive. It’s great to be out and just to be around other people. My company is remote-first, so while I’m in constant contact with colleagues around the world, it’s really nice to make those face-to-face connections.
For those who want to learn more, how can you be reached?
While Rory doesn’t spend much time on social media, you can take a look at his professional profile on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rory-mcdaniel/
About the author:
Bethany Good is the founder of Good Writing Co., which provides professional writing, developmental book editing, book coaching, and ghostwriting services. Her writing has appeared in Innovation and Tech Today, Columbia Inspired Magazine, and Frederick Lifestyle Magazine (among others). Bethany works with authors to help guide them through the book-writing process so that they can finally finish their memoirs or nonfiction books. Specializing in eldercare, dementia, and Alzheimer’s, she also works with home health businesses to provide content and resources for their patients and families. Bethany is also a dedicated wife and mother to two active kids. In her limited time, she enjoys gardening, long nature walks, reading, cooking, and snuggling with her Boston Terrier, Scout.