Brent led a large Oracle database migration to PostgreSQL and Azure, persevering through to project completion and successfully bringing four environments into production across two cloud regions. He established the initial timeline, budget, and resources for the project and consistently guided the team to adhere to them. Engaging Microsoft under a consulting contract ensured regular team communication to build and validate the correct solution architecture and resolve issues with PostgreSQL on Azure. His engineering mindset fostered a strong understanding of project requirements and enabled him to effectively communicate with the platform team, driving the project forward. Brent collaborated with the platform team to identify dependencies between building environments, migrating data, and converting Java code. I would highly recommend Brent as a team member for your next technical project!
Brent successfully transitioned from the role of developer to product manager, with roadmap responsibility for one of CNN’s most distinct and popular international properties: CNN Travel. He proved to be an ideal fit for the role — not only technically savvy, but driven to make the product a powerful destination for consumers and advertisers.
I worked with Brent when I was associate editor at CNNGo.com, which at the time was Turner Broadcasting’s first real go at a regional focused lifestyle, travel and destination geared site. Brent was “the guy who got things done” when I was there. Digital media and social media was still really coming into it’s own at the time and it was always a challenge to figure out exactly what is needed when it comes to content management systems. What I loved about working with Brent was his ability to provide what I needed editorially within a system that was challenging to work with. He would constantly strive to make things as easy as possible for the editorial staff and have the site running silky smooth. The man is a wizard.
Brent is smart, intelligent and, more importantly, passionate about his work. With his analytical and data focused mind, he has made significant contributions to CNN Travel. His communication skills and down to earth attitude makes him a very likable person and an asset to any organization.
Brent is a great person to work with because he is friendly, helpful and reliable. If you ask Brent to take care of a task then he’ll make sure that it gets completed efficiently and on time.
I worked with Brent on CNN Travel project for almost 3 years. He is one of those rare people that have a healthy balance of technical and people skills. He is the epitome of a true leader/manager: he leads by example, helps you if you’re stuck, respects and considers your suggestions, shows his appreciation for your work and gratitude to your extra effort, and gives insightful feedback and positive criticisms. He always seems to have lots of creative ideas on how to improve our site and/or leverage new technologies or APIs. Likewise, he developed further my creative side on thinking outside of the box, especially for investigating/fixing hard bugs. I’ve learned also from him on how to prioritize tasks and implement them effectively and efficiently. He is very supportive also of open-source projects. He encourages his developers to contribute back to community and share what we have learned. I have a number of successful open-source projects because of him. Essentially, he made me a better person and developer. I will highly recommend Brent for any development team because he is an exceptional person. He has high expectations on his developers, but even if he’s your boss, you will feel that he values your work and he is your friend. A number of times, I’ve heard him say that he wants his developers to be smarter than him (I bet only few managers could openly say that) which only further illustrates his selflessness, humility, and team-playing skills.
I had the pleasure of working with Brent on CNN Travel Drupal website project. I was particularly impressed by his ability to handle our team because of his strong and broad technical and project expertise. He was able to help us to provide solutions, keep us always focused and motivated. He always ensures that we are working on the right tasks, and our work will be completed in the expected time frame. I am grateful for his professionalism, hard work, loyalty and friendship. Brent is not only an exceptional manager, he is also a great Agile coach.
I’m really thankful working with Brent. I learned lots of things besides Drupal stuff. He teach me how to be a better programmer, debugging and code defensively. Making better decisions is also what Brent thought me. He is a reliable project and development manager that I would recommend for both small and large projects.
Brent is an extremely intelligent, focused and detail oriented person who is able to deliver on everything he sets his mind to. While not the natural socialite, he has been able to build and grow Shenzhen’s most popular social networking site and deliver on all other commitments.
Brent has been a good friend and business partner since I moved to Shenzhen 5-6 years ago. He is the go to person for both business and pleasure inquiries in Shenzhen. Whether it be the best restaurant in town or the best office to rent, Brent will be able to help. Brent is professional, enthusiastic and is greatly knowledgeable about marketing in South China.
Brent joined my team at an early stage in the development of CNNGo, spearheading the technical production aspects of the product, and directly managing the engineering team. Brent was able to quickly take the lead in the planning and execution of our product development, which included upgrading and migrating the product to a considerably more robust and scalable state, and using his extensive Drupal experience to its fullest. Brent has a detail-oriented and logical approach to his work, meaning that you can count on him to capture and prioritize tasks, plan systematically, and manage the delivery of customer value consistently. He has a strong knowledge of the SDLC and web development methodologies, as well as the important human factor required to get the best out of diverse and distributed teams. He makes a great lead for any kind of digital production team.
I enjoyed working with Brent on the CNNGo.com website. Brent has grown the site from a few select cities to something that spans the globe. To facilitate this expansion Brent overhauled how the site was developed and managed. Brent had a vision and set about making it happen. Today’s travel.cnn.com is a testament to the work of Brent and his team.
Brent and I started within the same week at CNNGo and he proved to be a genuine person who is great to work with. He has a broad knowledge on what it takes to run a successful online publishing site, meaning that he’s able to straddle many of the intricate parts involved. He sets realistic deadlines and reasonable expectations, meaning he is more reliable than most others.
Brent is one of the best technical managers I have ever worked with and his knowledge of Drupal is second to none. He was instrumental in implementing the SCRUM agile process at CNNGo / CNN Travel and in making continuous performance improvements to the stability and responsiveness of the site. I appreciated his keen sense of being able to prioritise and execute large backlogs of work with highly constrained resources. I wouldn’t hesitate recommending him for both large and small projects.
Brent and I worked together on a few photography assignments several years ago. He also helped bring exposure to my photography business and my events through his website.
With his rich experience and skill in Event management and Social management in Shenzhen, Brent took over the Shenzhen Wine and Cheese club with ease and made each gathering a success. He knows lot of people, lots of new and interesting places in Shenzhen and top notch wines suppliers. I really enjoy attending the club’s events and would highly recommend Brent to anyone who wishes to use the services that he has to offer.
Brent has worked hard to make the ShenzhenParty THE primary source for information about what is going on in Shenzhen for it’s English reading viewers and members. When we have an event to promote it is always ShenzhenParty. When we want to find out where we can find something, we use ShenzhenParty. You know it has a strong market position as people constantly refer to it as the source for their information around town and in different circles. Brent is also very proactive to share information or lend a helping hand. He has helped me many times by connecting me with valuable contacts of both a personal and professional nature. I’m very happy and confident to recommend Brent Deverman.
Shenhenparty has been a great place to advertise. We have received higher returns from them than from any other place we advertise online. His team is great and is always willing to help.
It is my pleasure to write a recommendation for Brent Deverman. For about a decade, Brent and his website http://www.ShenzhenParty.com have been making Shenzhen a more enjoyable place to live by organizing events and providing an online forum for the rapidly growing population of expats in town. I vote Brent “Shenzhen Expat of the Decade” for the service he has provided to the community.
Brent has been a great asset to the Shenzhen Wine & Cheese. He excels at organizing great events and helping people make great business and personal connections in the community.
Back when I first met Brent at I was coming to Shenzhen on business trips and began using ShenzhenParty.com to find my way around town. Later I moved to Shenzhen and used the site to connect with people for business and fun. I find my self using Shenzhen party more for finding fun events to take my family to.
I’ve used Brent’s services via shenzhenparty.com many times since 2002. This has been through attendance of parties, comedy shows, and other events organized or promoted by the site, by use of their ads section to sell items, and through search of the site’s extensive trove of information about all things Shenzhen. I’d heartily recommend both Brent and shenzhenparty.com.
SHENZHEN PARTY, BRENT AND MYSELF HAVE WORKED SIDE BY SIDE FOR MANY YEARS. ME AS A CLIENT, SHENZHEN PARTY AS A SERVICE PROVIDER. IN ALL OUR ASSOCIATION SHENZHEN PARTY AND BRENT HAVE ALWAYS FULLFILLED MY REQUIREMENTS. JOB APPLICATION SUCCESSES, SOCIAL OUTLETS AND INVITATIONS, WHATS ON IN THE COMMUNITY, WHATS ON FOR EX PATS. AS AN EXPAT IT IS SOMETIMES VERY LONELY EXISTANCE LIVING AWAY FROM FAMILY AND FRIENDS BUT BRENT AND SHENZHEN PARTY FILL THIS VOID SOMEWHAT. MANY THANKS SHENZHEN PARTY AND BRENT, I FOR ONE AM VERY PLEASED TO HAVE MET YOUR ACQUINTANCE.
When the bucket was passed on to me by Grace Granlund to run & manage the Shenzhen Wine & Cheese Club, I felt I had to do as great a job as she did. Tough to do as she was a really great hostess. Then after a few years had gone by and I had to move away, only one person I know can do an even better job than myself, Brent Deverman. Brent and Cherry are a great team, professional and courteous, they know a lot of people and seem to carry on the events with ease. I’m very happy to know that the Club is in very good hands because of Brent and the ShenzhenParty team. I’m looking forward to attending some of the Club’s events in the years to come.
Brent helped Shenzhen, China get on the map with the first english website portal. We all look to this site when first coming to Shenzhen and are often there for finding the newest events and job postings. His site also helped Shenzhen Team coworking get lots of attention and visitors at opening parties and other events.
Brent has been a great supporter of our businesses in Shenzhen; both as a customer and a business partner via Shenzhen Party. We use the site to advertise promotions at Xpats and the The Kitchen plus have recently hired staff via the classified adverts section. Shenzhen party is a real focal point for expatriates in Shenzhen and Brent is very focussed on providing a leading edge website and supporting local businesses. He is one of the best known people in the city and well respected by his vast network.
As founder of Shenzhen party, you brought exposure to our business and provide information that helped me in my life in Shenzhen. Thank you for the convenience and confort you have contributed to.
Brent is the one constant in the ever changing City of Shenzhen……. He has been at the leading edge of both business and social development for China’s most rapidly evolving city. Shenzhen Party the website which he has founded, stands out among the pack for the range of information and tools which it provides for the English speaking community. Therefore, Brent has made a difference for many individuals and companies in Shenzhen.
We hired Brent three times to organize companies opening throughout his platform shenzhenparty.com. Every time we worked with Brent things went very smoothly. His ability to study the environment, define the exact needs and deliver things on schedule at each step of the process are much appreciated from all. Highly recommended as well to organize online advertising campaign or web consultancy.
First of all, thanks to Brent’s inspiration in creating the website Shenzhenparty.com and his hard work and dedication building it up over years, it is now an indispensible part of expat life in this under-rated and huge new-China city. Brent himself is basically also an essential part of Shenzhen despite betraying the motherland with forays into the free world of HK. The shenzhenparty.com website is highly recommended for recruitment and advertising needs, packing a punch more serious than the ‘party’ moniker would suggest. Brent is a verified China Hand and possibly one of the first people you would nominate as a Shenzhen Hand (that is, if enough people outside had heard of Shenzhen enough to care to find hands for it).
Shenzhen Party provides a valuable service to the English speaking population of Shenzhen. I have used the website successfully to market our restaurants over the past 5 years.
Brent is a well-known figure in the social circle in Shenzhen. We have worked together in several occasions to launch new products with effective results. He has a strong personal relationship with all his business partners and will never fail to promote his business partners whenever he can. I will not hesitate to recommend Shenzhenparty.com as the preferred webiste media partner to those who wish to build their brands in Shenzhen.
On Several Occasions Brent and I have worked together on Projects in Shenzhen, Brent has deep and valuable experience with Event management and Socil management in Shenzhen. I would recommend to anyone who wishes to work with brent or use the services he has to offer
Brent has done an incredible job of creating a focal point for the expat community in Shenzhen, China to refer to when planning their social activities and finding local service providers. It’s a pleasure to know Brent and to see how this website has evolved over the years…..if you want maximum visibility in Shenzhen area, consider http://www.shenzhenparty,com
Brent has provided one the best resources in Shenzhen cultural scene. Great concept, implementation and a wonderful resource for ex-pats as well as locals.
Prior to my locating to Shenzhen China I was in need of general information about what part of the city I should live, where to locate needed services, and also looking for consulting work. For all of this I turned to Brent Deverman’s web site. In addition I posted advertisments looking for an assistant and to secure some translation work. Brent does very good web services, content development for his clients advertising campaigns, and is available to answers questions. His web site has become famous in Shenzhen and beyond because of his dedication and hard work. For these reasons I recommend Brent Deverman,