FMTC Employee Spotlight: Ian Foulk

Meet Ian Foulk, PHP Developer at FMTC!

How long have you worked at FMTC? What is your current role?

I have worked with FMTC for almost three years. I started in 2019 as a part-time contractor in a junior development role. My current role is now a back-end PHP developer focusing mainly on the Product Feed service at FMTC.

What do you like most about your job?

I like how I get to work with a smart group of people who know what they are doing but are willing to ask for and give help. It makes me feel like we can solve any problem if we work together. Our current work has really tested our teamwork and has felt very rewarding.

What do you like to do when you aren’t working?

I like to play video games, spend time with my wife exploring nature, and work on puzzles. Exploring nature has become a bigger part of my life. I made a big move from my home state of Florida to Virginia, and the nature here is astounding.

What’s a fun fact about you many people may not know?

When I started college, I was going to be a nuclear engineer. I spent almost two years in the degree, but it never really clicked with me or my interests. Then I took an elective in Fortran, one of the oldest programming languages out there and one that some nuclear reactors still use today. I just loved the way I had to think of solutions with the logic of programming. After that class, I decided to switch gears to get a degree in web development.

Where’s your favorite place in the world?

Home. While it is fun to find new places or have interesting experiences, I always enjoy the end of the day when I can come home and relax. The pandemic really pushed the limits on how much home is too much, but I can still say it is my favorite place.

What’s your motto or personal mantra?

“This is why we test.” I have caught myself saying this more often than not after I run tests on code that I “know” works. Every time I run a test, I find something that would have been a bug in the live environment. I am glad we are working towards setting up automatic testing so that we have a more robust codebase.

What is your hometown?

I grew up in quite a few places as a child in an Air Force family, but my hometown is St. Petersburg, FL. It is hot, full of traffic, and flat — but it is where my fondest childhood memories are from. My wife and I decided to set out to find cooler weather and local mountains. Virginia has yet to disappoint on those fronts.