Aptitude Digital
397 Bedford Hwy #301 B3M 2L3 Halifax, NS, Canada

Aptitude Digital's Employee Spotlight series highlights the people behind our brand and the work we do this of course couldn't happen without two important people our Co-founders!!! Today's spotlight features Bill Doane, one of our Co-founders. Bill has acquired a wealth of knowledge in his time of working in the IT industry. He has worked as a developer, sales, client care and comedian with his never ending supply of dad jokes. When he isn't working he can often be fou...nd spending time with his wife and 3 daughters, sailing, renovating houses and serving as the Hubbards Sailing Club's Commodore. Your Name: Bill Doane Your role at Aptitude Digital: Co-founder Q: What advice do you have for prospective Aptitude Digital candidates? A: Love what you do. We spend a lot of our lives at work. If you love what you do and who you are working with it is easy to achieve a work life balance. Q: What is your proudest moment at Aptitude Digital? A: When Chris and I let go and stopped leading every project. It was so awesome to see people who started their careers at Aptitude move onto the next level and take on leadership responsibilities. Q: What's one thing you couldn't live without? A: Coffee and wine. (oh and my wife and kids, but without coffee I wouldnt know they exist). Q: Where is the best place you've traveled? A: Sailing in Grenada Q: What would you most tell yourself at age 13? A: Mom is right don't do that! #NovaScotiaBusiness #NSCC #Creating Opportunities #CoFounder #Halifax #HalifaxBusiness #BusinessOwner #Techie #Sailing

Its an honour to finally present our longest-serving team member; Tracey DeWolfe. Tracey leads the creative process, working with our clients to understand and successfully realise their digital business and communication goals. Throughout our design and development process she maintains a constant and trusted relationship to ensure we are getting it just right. As a new mom, a job she relishes and thrives in, Tracey has a busy home life as well. She can often be found jugg...ling baby schedules, gatherings with family/friends and fur-baby belly rubs. Tracey is also very active in Skills Canada as a National Technical Committee member for the Graphic Design competition area. (Phew, we are tired just hearing all that). We sat down with Tracey to ask her some questions about Aptitude Digital, her greatest challenges, which she is still trying to overcome, and her favorite thing to do (we are sure any new parent would say the same things). Your Name: Tracey DeWolfe Your role at Aptitude Digital: Creative Lead Q: How has Aptitude Digital helped you in your career development? A: Aptitude Digital has helped me in all aspects of my career development! I have gone from being a Junior Designer not knowing much about Drupal and web design to a Creative Lead helping clients execute their digital presence and helping my co-workers. Q:What is the favorite part about working for Aptitude Digital? A: My team members and my bosses! I love that I am treated as an individual and not as a number. We feel like family in a way that we can openly talk about any issues, check in if someone is sick and be there for each other. Q: Where is your favorite place to be? A: Any place that I can hear the waves crashing onto the shore or be in the water. There is nothing more healing than being in the water, it immediately takes the stress away. Q: Whats the greatest challenge you have had to overcome in your life thus far? A: Relinquishing control. Boy, this is a big one! I can absolutely admit now that I am a bit of a control freak. Q: Whats your favorite thing to do? A: Watching my daughter grow and play. I love seeing her interact with the world around her and getting a glimpse of that world in a new light. #NSCCGrad #NSCC #CreativeLead #create #womanintech #webdesigner #employeespotlight #meettheteam #halifax #HalifaxBusiness

Congratulations to the winner of our Harbour Hopper giveaway, Ashley Hickey! Ashley has won a Family Pack of seats on the Harbour Hopper tour to explore Halifax by land and sea! Thank you to all who entered the contest. We at Aptitude Digital are wishing Ashley and everyone else in Nova Scotia a wonderful Natal Day! #ReDiscoverHalifax #ReDiscoverNS #NatalDay2020 #HarbourHopper #Staycation2020

Meet Niko Bentley, Aptitudes Web Developer. Niko works behind the scenes on building and developing websites with Drupals CMS. His knowledge helps us refine and improve our ability to provide clients with a functional and easy-to-use product. When Niko isnt working out the technical wants and needs of clients, he can be found snuggling his fur-babies (), learning Portuguese and watching football (or as we Canadians call itsoccer). We caught up with Niko to ask a few q...uestions about his thoughts on working with Aptitude, and learning about that one thing he cant live without. Your Name: Niko Bentley Your role at Aptitude Digital: Web Developer What is the favourite part about working for Aptitude Digital? Working from home How do you balance your career at Aptitude Digital and family/home life? When the work-day ends, it ends. I feel no obligation to work past the end of the day or on weekends. I prefer to spend that time with my family. Whats one thing you couldnt live without? Synthetic insulin ( Ahh...thank god for modern medicine) Where is the best place youve traveled? Porto, Portugal Whats the one thing you cannot resist? Salty chips

Today is the day for our Harbour Hopper giveaway!! You have until noon before the draw! Good luck to everyone!! #Giveaway #Harbour #Halifax #Staycation #LastChancetoWin #NatalDay2020

For this weeks Employee Spotlight, were featuring, Emily Beauchamp, a PHP/Drupal Developer here at Aptitude. Since joining the company a couple years ago, Emily started her journey as an SEO Specialist and quickly moved up to a Developer role. When Emily isnt in the office helping clients with their websites, she can be found on the field playing competitive soccer or crushing goals at her local CrossFit gym. Continue reading our interview as we touch on how Emily first le...arned of Aptitude, her latest Netflix watchlist, traveling and more! Your Name: Emily Beauchamp Your role at Aptitude Digital: PHP/Drupal Developer Q: How did you first learn about Aptitude Digital? A: Two friends that I went to NSCC with were working here. Q: How do you balance your career at Aptitude Digital and family/home life? A: Its not difficult to achieve a work/life balance at Aptitude. When I finish work, I am done for the day and have no issues shutting down my computer and muting my chat and email. On the rare occasions Ive worked overtime, it wasnt required; I just wanted to get the work done and I was recognized for that effort. Q: What are you currently watching on Netflix? A: Schitts Creek and Unsolved Mysteries, though I always end up circling back to The Office. Q: Where is the best place youve traveled? A: I studied abroad in Spain for 3 months. I improved my Spanish, ate great food, and traveled to a bunch of different places around the country. Q: What do you like to do for fun? A: I like playing sports in my spare time. I currently play competitive womens soccer and do CrossFit.

Meet Nicole Doucette, our awesome Admin & Support Assistant, she just hit her one year mark at Aptitude! With her "go-with-the-flow and you got this attitude" she is a constant encouragement to those around her. When she's not at work you can often find her catching some air on her skateboard, cuddling kitties and fishing at the local lakes in Halifax. Read our interview with Nicole to find out what's she gained in the year that she has been working at Aptitude, where her fa...vorite place to be is and what her favorite concerts to date are! Your Name: Nicole Doucette Your role at Aptitude Digital: Admin & Support Assistant Q: What do you like most about Aptitude Digital? A: The ability to have a great work/life balance. Its easy to work when youre working with your friends. Q: What have you gained from working at Aptitude Digital? A: Knowledge. Im not a Web Developer, Designer, DevOps, or Digital Marketing specialist, but I have had the chance to learn a lot in all of these areas. Q: What's the greatest challenge you have had to overcome in your life thus far? A: Anxiety! Q: Where is your favorite place to be? A: Anywhere I can cuddle a horde of cats. Q: What was the best concert you ever attended? A: Osheaga, specifically to see the Red Hot Chili Peppers. Oh and the Beach Boys that same summer!

FREEBIE ALERT! If your business or organization would like signs to download and print, Aptitude has several available for free on our blog: https://zcu.io/o1EF #Freebies #COVID19Signage #StaySafe #WeAreInThisTogether #BackToBusiness

As many of us start our return to the workplace, it's important to ensure that we keep our employees, colleagues and clients safe. Aptitude Digital has been following the guidance of our Nova Scotia Government. For printable guidance materials for your workplace check out the following website: https://zcu.io/v7x4 (Psst...we might be working on some fun signs of our own. Stay tuned next week for more details.) #COVID19 #FlattenTheCurve #WorkplaceSafety

You may have seen her work, or worked with her directly on a project. It is with great pleasure that we introduce to you our Web Designer, Yiming (Amy) Zhang. Yiming graduated from the NSCC Graphic Design program last year and we were able to hire her upon graduating. Her talent and eagerness to grow and learn is truly out of this world. When she isn't busy collaborating with Aptitude, you can find her taking long walks through Halifax, sculpting, painting and being the proud... fur mama to some adorable gerbils. Read through our interview with Yiming to find out what she has gained over the last year working with Aptitude Digital and what challenges she has overcome since moving to Canada. Your Name: Yiming (Amy) Zhang Your role at Aptitude Digital: Web Designer Q: What is your proudest moment at Aptitude Digital? A: The proudest moment is seeing the website go online, which like seeing my child grow up. Q: What have you gained from working at Aptitude Digital? A: No product is an island. It is a cohesive, integrated set of experiences. Q: What's one thing you couldn't live without? A: A meetable goal and finding the motivation to stick with it. Q: What's the greatest challenge you have had to overcome? A: Language, culture, climate... and of course, ice water! You know, we also drink cold drinks, but that's in summer, not winter. Q: What would you most like to tell yourself at age 13? A: Life isnt a predictable series of events over which you have ultimate control. The only person you have control over is yourself. (This advice is on )

We want to give a shout out to our Web Developer, Trupti Nayak. Hailing all the way from India, Trupti has settled into life on the East Coast with her husband. Trupti is approaching her one year anniversary and has helped us create beautiful experiences through HTML, CSS and her positivity is infectious. Read through our interview with Trupti to find out what she loves about working with Aptitude Digital and which superhero she would be less excited to save her from a burnin...g building. Give her some love by liking the post or congratulating her for putting up with our craziness for the past year. Your Name: Trupti Nayak Your Role at Aptitude Digital: Web Developer What do you like most about Aptitude Digital? We team up and break down any challenge. We build and uphold our legacy of trust. What value does Aptitude bring to our clients? We empower businesses to inspire, implement solutions and nurture doing what they love. Whats the craziest thing youve ever done? Coloured my black hair blonde, a day before my engagement ceremony. I had to recolour it back to black the next day. Whats your favourite movie? Pursuit of Happiness Who is your least favourite superhero? Green Lantern

#CanadaDay2020 is being celebrated a different way this year. Canadian Heritage is funding multiple regional virtual activities across the country to celebrate #VirtualCanadaDay. This includes working with HFX Civic Events for the Halifax/Dartmouth Canada Day celebrations. For Celebration Kits, Virtual Fireworks, music and more head over to the Canada Day Celebration webpage: https://zcu.io/6zAC

Tomorrow is #CanadaDay! To celebrate our beautiful country, tell us what you LOVE most about Canada.

Aptitude is delighted to introduce our newest team member and Traffic Manager, Bernardine Wood! Bernardine has a long standing relationship with co-founders Chris and Bill, and has even been a freelance writer for Aptitude Digital's blog. Read through our interview with Bernardine to find out what smart, dark and funny drama she's been binging on Netflix, where her all-time favourite place to be is located and how her first few weeks at Aptitude Digital have been. (Pssst: tod...ay is her birthday, so drop her a warm welcome and a birthday wish below in the comments ). Your Name: Bernardine Wood Your Role at Aptitude Digital: Traffic Manager What do you like most about Aptitude Digital? Our team just works so well together, everyone supports each other in any challenge or goal. How do you balance your career at Aptitude Digital and family/home life? We have great work-life balance, under normal circumstances the two are completely separate. We also have great flexibility around work from home options. What are you currently watching on Netflix? With COVID Ive been watching WAY more Netflix than usual. I just finished S2 of Good Girls; its smart, dark and funny. Whats your biggest phobia? Heights! Its almost disabling. It went from bad to worse one hike when I froze half-way down a descent into the base of a waterfall. After that I could barely drive across the bridge! Where is your favorite place to be? Taylor Head is a coastal hike on the Eastern Shore of NS. Its my all-time favourite place to be.

Are you struggling to ensure your business is found in Google Search? According to Google's latest Annual Webspam Report, 25 billion spam pages are found every day. That's 9,125,000,000,000 pages per year. If you aren't writing high-quality content, it's likely you are wasting your time and money. https://zcu.io/oAOR #MarketingAdvice #BusinessAdvice #DigitalStrategy

Happy Father's Day from everyone at Aptitude Digital. #FathersDay #dadlife

Aptitude is thrilled to introduce our new DevOps and Support Analyst, Alex Patterson! Last year Alex was our awesome NSCC work term student and is now back as a full time hire. Read through our interview with Alex to find out how working with Aptitude sparked a new professional passion and who his biggest inspiration is. (Hint: he sent a car to space ). Your Name: Alex Patterson What is your role at Aptitude Digital?... DevOps and Support Analyst How did you learn about Aptitude Digital? I first learned about Aptitude Digital around the time of the 2019 NSCC job fair. I had a great chat with the people representing Aptitude and they were definitely at the top of my radar for companies I wanted to work for. Fast forward one year, and you could say it was a dream come true. What drew you to Aptitude Digital Originally? And how has Aptitude Digital changed since? While I was in school, my favourite courses were Web Development and Programming. When I was doing my research on the list of companies that they provided us before the job fair, Aptitude was one of the only companies that looked like it was right up my alley. I managed to get a 5-week work term with Aptitude after my first year of school, and it showed me how much really goes on behind the scenes. It also sparked a new passion I never knew I had in Infrastructure and the DevOps side of things. Since my work term, I have noticed significant growth in the company with adding new processes and procedures, taking on big new clients and its just an incredible feeling that I get to be a part of the bright future that Aptitude has. Who inspires you? I know this may be a bit of a cliché, but one of my biggest inspirations is Elon Musk. He is one of the only people in the world that genuinely cares about the fate of humanity and he is doing everything he can to push society in the right direction. He is one of the most driven people in the world when it comes to climate change and sustainable energy and that is something that I aspire to be one day. What would you most like to tell yourself at age 13? This is an interesting question because the views of a 13-year-old are a lot different than the views of an adult. I would probably tell myself to keep doing what youre doing and have fun, while also following the path that you enjoy most along the way. Interests and passions change over the course of your life and the best thing you can do for yourself is do what you want to do when you want to do it because when you look back in hindsight, regrets are the worst thing you can have. What is your favorite family tradition? My favourite family tradition would definitely have to be visiting my aunts on Christmas Eve. My whole family has been doing this since I can remember and its just a great time to see everyone and not worry about what you have to do tomorrow.

Did You Know: 1 in 5 Nova Scotians over the age of 15 identifies as having a disability and almost all of us will have a disability in our lifetime! Are you and your organization keeping up? Check out the Province of Nova Scotia's toolkits, guides and more: https://zcu.io/WsDv #AccessibleCanada

This week we are excited to introduce you to our new DevOps Work Term Student, Zack Johnson. Read through our interview with Zack to find out what makes him an awesome NSCC work term student, some of his greatest challenges and learn about that thing he can't resist. Your Name: Zack Johnson What is your role at Aptitude Digital?... DevOps What course are you currently taking at NSCC? IT Systems Management and Security What are 3 words to describe Aptitude Digital? Remarkable, innovative and committed. What is the favorite part about working for Aptitude Digital? The atmosphere and the dynamic of everyone that works there. How welcomed they make you feel starting the day one! Whats the greatest challenge you have had to overcome in your life thus far? Transitioned to the Military from Civilian Life at 17 y/o (Military Police 2007-2013), transitioning to a different trade in the Military (Combat Engineer 2013 -2019) then after 12 years re-educating in IT at NSCC while transitioning back to Civilian Life. The greatest challenge is dealing with all the experiences good and bad gained while being a part of the big green machine and the ways to deal with them after the experiences have ended. I am lucky I have a great support team and have met great people in the last year that have made it easier to transition including the great team here at Aptitude Digital! Whats the one thing you cannot resist? Sour candy! Particularly Sour Patch Kids(Original), Sour Patch Kids (New Crush Pop Edition), Cherry Blasters (New Sour Patched Coated Edition) and Sour Jujubes. Where is the best place you've traveled? Walt Disney World (WDW), Florida Orlando! It was great to get away from reality for a week and have no worries in the world. Get sucked into movies you loved growing up by going on rides, eating great meals while being surrounded by the same lovable characters from those movies and taking it easy while watching the fireworks every night.

When co-founder Bill checked the company mail he was elated to find a Thank-You card from Chisholm Services For Children. Aptitude Digital worked with the event committee of the highly anticipated event Blind Date With A Star - fundraiser - Feb.25, 2020 at Pier 21 to create a new website. Check out the great new refresh of the event website: https://zcu.io/9ArR

We are excited to introduce you to our new Search Engine Advertising Analyst, Alexander Sproul. Get to know more about Alexander, what makes him a fantastic new work term student from NSCC and learn more about his passion for fantasy worlds and public speaking. Your Name: Alexander Sproul What is your role at Aptitude?... Search Engine Advertising Analyst What course are you currently taking at NSCC? IT Data Analytics How do you balance your career at Aptitude Digital and family/home life? My partner and I both value self-care. We are both at a point in our careers where we are working very hard to stand out. My philosophy is that its better to work at 100% capacity 60% of the time than at 60% capacity 100% of the time. Every evening we make a point to spend time with each other and mentally reset. I think that has been very valuable for us both. What is your proudest moment at Aptitude Digital? My proudest moment (so far) at Aptitude Digital is when I updated an ad campaign to target specific regions based on their cities zoning boundaries. It was the first time that I got to take publicly available data and manipulate it to create new, valuable information. It was also the first time that I felt like a real data analyst! What are you passionate about? I am very passionate about worldbuilding the process of bringing fictional worlds to life in storytelling. I once started a society at Dalhousie (it still runs!) and we as a group would create a fictional world over the year and write an anthology of short stories that took place within that world. I also really love public speaking. Its certainly not for everyone, but I am very passionate about communicating ideas to other people in creative ways. Tell us something about you that might surprise us. I have three answers for this question! 1. I published a fantasy novel when I was 16 years old. I also illustrated the cover! 2. I have an honours degree in psychology and neuroscience. I wrote an honours thesis that proposed a way of diagnosing dyslexia using eye movements. 3. I have a cat named Peaches and I am also allergic to her! Where is the best place you've traveled? For our two-year anniversary, my partner and I traveled to London and Belfast in the United Kingdom. While we were there, I got to see Platform 9 from Harry Potter and tour the filming sites of Game of Thrones in Belfast. Our tour guide for the Game of Thrones tour ended up being featured for a good portion of a documentary about the making of the show called The Last Watch. We had no idea until we saw him on the TV screen a year later! We also got to meet the direwolves from the first few seasons.

Here at Aptitude Digital, we truly appreciate the amazing work our team does. With everyone working remotely, we wanted to add a little extra something to our weekly team zoom meeting. PIZZA !

Our hearts are with the victims and families affected by the tragic events that unfolded in our Nova Scotian communities this weekend. #NovaScotiaStrong

Wow, what a turnout! To everyone who joined our webinar today, thank you for taking the time out of your busy day. We hope you found some useful advice. If you missed us, watch the recording on our blog https://zcu.io/k0D5 #MarketingWebinar #MarketingAdvice #MarketingTips

Planning long-term in times like this may sound impossible. It's not. Register now for our Thursday webinar "Marketing During and After COVID-19" to learn how widely accepted marketing principles can help you make informed marking decisions in times of uncertainty. https://zcu.io/2RnS #Marketing #MarketingAdvice #MarketingWebinar #MarketingTips #MarketingBestPractices

The Coronavirus has disrupted business globally. With logistics and operations at a standstill, should businesses still market themselves and pursue leads? Join us Thursday as we discuss this question and more in the first of our new webinar series aimed at helping marketing teams succeed in these uncertain and trying times. https://zcu.io/WCOh #webinar #halifax #vancouver

With concerns growing around COVID-19, our office has opted to work remotely. Our owners, Chris and Bill have spent the morning helping team members get setup. Amazon's got nothing on their delivery!