Elias Landsman

My life, abridged: I was born in the New York City metro area in 1987. I moved to Asheville, North Carolina in 1994, and subsequently Charlotte, North Carolina, in 1998. Throughout high school (2000-2005), I taught myself web development as a hobby. I mostly tinkered with PHP-driven content management systems such as PostNuke and PHP-Nuke. After I graduated from high school, I attended college at Appalachian State University and in 2009 I graduated with a BA in Sociology and a minor in Psychology. After College, I spent the better part of a year thru-hiking the entire Appalachian Trail.

Following my backpack of the Appalachian Trail, I moved back to Asheville and I found myself working in the hospitality industry. I enjoyed the flexibility that the industry afforded me, as I could spend ample time pursuing my personal passions such as hiking, and traveling to see live music. I worked for many years at a small independent craft brewery, and had a front row seat as the business grew rapidly and eventually got acquired by a large multinational corporation. Weathering and growing alongside the associated bureaucratic & organizational changes was a valuable learning experience.

After more than a decade working in the hospitality industry, my personal priorities changed as I discovered the joys of a more wellness-oriented lifestyle. No longer feeling fulfilled working in the alcohol industry, I rediscovered web development. I enrolled in some classes at the local community college to brush up on my skills, and fell in love with programming all over again. I made a commitment to furthering my education and got accepted to the UNC Asheville Computer Science department as a postbaccalaureate student.

During my time at UNCA, I enjoyed a handful of engineering internships which were amazing experiences (especially fun and worthwhile was an internship at a digital currency trading platform). I earned my degree from UNCA in 2022 and immediately began working as a full time software engineer at Credit Karma in Charlotte.

Currently, when I am not focusing on personal or professional software projects, I can be found hiking with my golden retriever, practicing Ashtanga yoga, shopping for vinyl records, seeing live music, or cooking Indian food.