Cully Larson
Lead Engineer
A long time Oregon resident, Cully grew up in Bend before moving to Corvallis for college, where he ended up loving and staying after graduation. “It has this tendency to attract people once they've come here,” he said with a smile. Outside of programming for “more years than he'd care to share,” he loves reading, hiking, cycling and making things with his hands, such as doing book binding, textiles, electronics and woodworking.
Least Favorite Emoji
“There's none I look at and hate, even the bad ones are useful sometimes as long as you're self aware with them in the right opportunities.”
Favorite Holiday Movie
Christmas Vacation, it's a classic.
Who would dress up like Santa in Echobind?
“If there was an event where we had to have a Santa, I think Chris would do it. He's a good sport and he'd like the idea of everyone having a good time. But if it's more of a proxy of holiday cheer, I think Deloris. Not that she'd dress up as Santa, but as a proxy of holiday cheer.”
Most Used App?
Harvest and ChatGPT
Food that doesn't get enough credit
“Cereal: It's not the food you always want, it's not top of the list, but it's food you'll take and be pretty happy with.”
Where would you like the next Echobind Retreat to be?
Japan, Switzerland or Argentina.
Projects you loved most in 2023
Cully has joyfully spent a large part of his year working on Memento, which is a service that allows people to make group video messages and easily build shared albums. He said they're an amazing client to communicate with, reminding him a lot of Echobind with their company culture and being focused on one another. Not to mention, the scope of work is diverse, so the team is always working on something fresh and fun within the project.
Your Personal peak/high of the year
He set out to read one book every week, and he's surpassed that, creeping toward 60 books finished in the calendar yet. “I'm not usually a huge goals person but for some reason this one really motivated me,” he said. A couple of his favorites this year were Claire Keegan's Small Things Like These and Jeffrey Eugenides The Virgin Suicides.
Advice you'd give January 2023 version of yourself
Cully admits he can think far too deeply about questions like this but wishes he could have just said, “It's going to be a good year” to himself. “And It was a good year. A lot of good things happened. So maybe not advice so much as encouragement.”
Favorite work-from-home perk or accessory:
On the Echobind Slack channels, you'll quickly hear how much Cully loves his Selk'bag, better known as a wearable sleeping bag, which he puts on every morning to start the day. “That thing has been amazing,” he said laughing. “Honestly maybe that's what I'd tell January 2023 version of me: Buy it sooner. I don't have to turn my heater up as high and I'm just really warm. And you can just take the top part of it off while you're working or in meetings, and put it back on afterwards.”