Corporate Partner Profile: BrickSimple
Founded in 2002 by Drexel alumnus Det Ansinn (BS Electrical Engineering, ’95) BrickSimple has gained recognition as one of the leading boutique mobile, IoT, VR/AR, and wearable application developers in the United States. BrickSimple is headquartered in Doylestown with locations in Philadelphia, San Rafael, CA, and Cambridge, MA. With their cutting-edge work, which spans industrial, healthcare, and manufacturing industries, BrickSimple has developed solutions for large-scale health enterprise management systems, mobile applications, wearable technologies, and groundbreaking VR/AR applications.
BrickSimple was one of the first companies to join the College of Computing & Informatics (CCI) Corporate Partners Program. “For an innovative company like ours, we really want to be able to meet some of that great talent that Drexel is producing. We really saw it as an opportunity to have a deeper engagement with the university,” explained Ansinn, who also serves as a member of the CCI Dean’s Executive Advisory Council.
Students who work with BrickSimple have the unique experience to collaborate with experienced developers, professional clients, and other interns. When asked what type of skills they look for in potential hires, Ansinn explained the importance of being adaptable. “It’s not just about learning a particular skill,” he said. “The way we did things five years ago won’t be the way we do things five years from now. We look for people who can be dynamic, who can learn and understand new technologies and embrace them. Doing cutting-edge work with new technologies really requires that dynamic profile, which we see in Drexel students.”
Ansinn anticipates the future of the technology field being impacted by the convergence of IoT, AI, and VR/AR. “We’re seeing fundamental changes to the way that people interact with computers and technology. We need people who are not only good at hard technology skills, but who are also able to write, communicate, articulate, and share their work. You have to be able to share your ideas and collaborate with others to do anything that is truly new,” he said.
In 2018, BrickSimple sponsored Philly Codefest, which is CCI’s annual 36-hour hardware and software hackathon. Ansinn provided the keynote address to over 490 coders who participated in the event, and BrickSimple hosted a technology showcase that gave Codefest attendees a hands-on opportunity to check out their AR/VR technology. Ansinn also served as a judge for Codefest, along with Chief Creative Officer Jesse Berdinka.
To learn more about BrickSimple, please visit www.bricksimple.com.