David Needham is the Engineering Manager of Customer Education and Training at Datadog. He has been teaching and speaking in open source communities for about 15 years. He enjoys long road trips, reading (Brandon Sanderson, the Bobiverse series, Murderbot Diaries), and playing board games with his family in Champaign, IL. He loves canoeing in northern Minnesota / Canada, and has spoke at tech conferences around the world from Belgrade to Seattle and everywhere in between.

Why I’m on Couchsurfing

HOW I PARTICIPATE IN COUCHSURFING

I first heard about CS.org when I worked for myself and traveled around the US visiting friends and family. They didn't always have a place for me to stay, so I made new friends through CS.org who could help. Since then I got married, had three kids, and moved across the US a few times from IL, to San Antonio, to San Francisco, to Saint Paul, and now back to IL.

We actively hosted people when we lived in San Francisco, but haven't found a good space for guests since having kids. We hope that will change someday so we can start welcoming new friends into our home again!

COUCHSURFING EXPERIENCE

I've been on old couches and new couches. The new ones are sometimes nicer, but the old ones usually have a better story.

Interests

• design
• photography
• board games
• music
• hiking
• web design

One Amazing Thing I’ve Done

hike up a mountain and feed wild monkeys in Japan, then ride a bullet train across the country to relax in a Japanese onsen (hot spring bath house) before sleeping in a capsule hotel

Teach, Learn, Share

I work at a tech company and work with my team to develop educational material for our customers. I'd be happy to teach you anything I can about the tools that we work with, web design, or any other tech or productivity hacks you're interested in. I also love public speaking and would be delighted to talk tips to make that easier! If you have a computer question I may be able to help.

Countries I’ve Visited

Austria, Canada, England, Germany, Iceland, Ireland, Japan, Serbia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, United Kingdom

Countries I’ve Lived In

United States

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