Blake Callens

I’m a college dropout. After two years of going back to school on the GI Bill, I decided the best thing I could do for my newfound computer science career was focus on the programming job I already had rather than the free education I was receiving. I refer to this as the second stupidest, but ultimately beneficial, life altering decision I’ve ever made. The absolute stupidest was going into the military in the first place. Almost a decade later, I know my career is much further along than if I had stayed in college. Not having a degree...

I’m a college dropout. After two years of going back to school on the GI Bill, I decided the best thing I could do for my newfound computer science career was focus on the programming job I already had rather than the free education I was receiving. I refer to this as the second stupidest, but ultimately beneficial, life altering decision I’ve ever made. The absolute stupidest was going into the military in the first place. Almost a decade later, I know my career is much further along than if I had stayed in college. Not having a degree...

When you own a web development platform, you meet a ton of business owners interested in creating a site, all with varying levels of technical knowledge, from expert programmers to the computer illiterate. Those that exist on the latter half of the spectrum generally fall into two categories: owners who understand that good, revenue-generating websites are built by skilled technologists (who charge industry standard rates) and those who flat out don’t get it. My interaction with the second group is compounded by my involvement in the startup scene, where some people think the mantra of “minimum viable product” means...

It was at E3 (Electronic Entertainment Expo) a few years back, after a long day of swag acquisition, that I decided to walk down the street from the convention center to L.A. Live and get a bite to eat. At the restaurant, I sat next to two guys who still had their convention badges on. One was in a suit and the other looked like what one might call a “stereotypical gamer”. “What do I have to do to get you to write a favorable review of [a new hardware product from one of the big three console developers]?” said the man...

It was at E3 (Electronic Entertainment Expo) a few years back, after a long day of swag acquisition, that I decided to walk down the street from the convention center to L.A. Live and get a bite to eat. At the restaurant, I sat next to two guys who still had their convention badges on. One was in a suit and the other looked like what one might call a “stereotypical gamer”. “What do I have to do to get you to write a favorable review of [a new hardware product from one of the big three console developers]?” said the man...

Blake Callens is founder and CEO of PencilBlue, a newly launched content management system and publishing platform aimed to compete with WordPress. ExitEvent relaunched its website on the platform last week, and we asked Blake to share his thoughts on the process and lessons learned.  Last week, ExitEvent launched the new version of its website, running on PencilBlue, my company’s open source, online publishing and content management system. ExitEvent is the first news website to run on PencilBlue and we’re incredibly excited to see it live. But we’re even more excited for what’s to come. Over the next few months, this website will be transformed...

Blake Callens is founder and CEO of PencilBlue, a newly launched content management system and publishing platform aimed to compete with WordPress. ExitEvent relaunched its website on the platform last week, and we asked Blake to share his thoughts on the process and lessons learned.  Last week, ExitEvent launched the new version of its website, running on PencilBlue, my company’s open source, online publishing and content management system. ExitEvent is the first news website to run on PencilBlue and we’re incredibly excited to see it live. But we’re even more excited for what’s to come. Over the next few months, this website will be transformed...