Justin E. Samuels is one of the biggest young Black names in the Atlanta tech scene. The RenderATL CEO recently spoke to rolling out about his career.
What are some of the cool things you all do at RenderATL?
Beyond the conference, we do a ton of activations all around town. We take over an entire rooftop. We might be taking over the City Winery, or you might be coming to do a cool workshop where you can up skill. We had to do things that would get that nonconventional engineer out of the house to have a great time, but also to learn a ton of knowledge, too. Even beyond engineers, we exist to serve the technology professional that is trying to live on the leading edge.
What advice would you give to a Black kid in grade school who wants to get into tech?
My advice for the kid, and particularly the Black kid that is at home that has a high interest in science, technology, engineering or math is just to remain curious. Curiosity is what got me this far, or asking questions. Always being open to hearing feedback, too, because it got me to a point where I’m not afraid of what I don’t know.
I’m also open to understanding more and trying to learn more from what I don’t understand at this time. As long as you remain curious, as long as you’re trying to always ask the question, whether you think the question is right or completely wrong, as long as you’re being curious, you will always learn and you will always be better than yourself the previous day. At the end of the day, that’s all that matters, continuous improvement.
What are some ways people can become more technologically literate?
The best thing is Google. You can easily go on Google, or even now TikTok, and type in what you’re trying to learn. Whether that’s AI, Chat GPT or NF T’s, you can easily type in what you’re trying to learn about, take an hour or two a day, and easily become a student of a particular craft that will take you farther than the person that is just sitting on the couch.
What are your three favorite apps to use right now?
I’m a CEO, so all of my apps are pretty business savvy. I have to give a shout-out to the home team, Intuit QuickBooks. I use a lot of QuickBooks app on my phone, handling incoming invoices.
Paying for things outward, I use a lot of bill.com to get things handled over there.
Then, my favorite social media is Twitter right now. I’m always on Twitter, mostly because that is where the tech ecosystem lives. So I enjoy hanging out, talking shop with my engineers and having a great time doing it.
Where can people follow Render?
You can easily follow RenderATL by either going to our website, RenderATL.com. You can also go on any social media platform, it’s going to be @RenderATL.
