Zensational: Justin Pfefferle, Kyle Davis and William Lee
Zensational is building an auto-tag generator for graphics files using Zenko and TensorFlow. When a user uploads a graphic to storage, their application goes to work, using AI to determine what the image is and apply meaningful tags. The team’s members are Justin Pfefferle, Kyle Davis and William Lee.
Justin has been at 42 for just under a year. He lives in the dorms and is working through the levels as he looks forward to his wife and daughter making the move from Boise to the Bay Area to join him soon in an off-campus home. Justin studied mathematics at Boise State, thinking he would teach high-level Math someday. When he decided to get into tech instead, he took several contract positions, including doing technical support for cellular providers and even training Apple employees, and supplemented those by driving for Uber. His interest in technology made his decision to join 42 an easy one – he found it and knew it was for him.
Kyle earned a Bachelor’s degree in Genetics from U.C. Davis. Working as a Jr. Specialist in a lab at a research hospital in Sacramento, he found that what he enjoyed most about his job was writing macros to streamline tasks and operations in spreadsheets, so started to think that programming was more his style than lab-based research. He learned about 42 from his father, who had read about it in Forbes article that was published the Spring before he enrolled. He didn’t waste any time – he was already looking-into taking programming courses at community college, and this seemed like a great alternative. He loves the collaborative environment: teaching others and learning from them as well, as everyone works at their own pace. And, It’s in familiar territory. Kyle’s from Newark, the next town over from 42’s Fremont campus, and his family lives there still.
William was at U.C. Davis at the same time Kyle was there, but they never crossed paths there. William was studying Biochemisty, and earned his Bachelor of Science degree in that field. After that, he moved to Paradise Valley, Arizona to work on developing a game with a friend. His friend was the coder; he was the writer. His friend heard about 42, and was taking their online puzzle test, which sparked William’s competitive spirit, so he did it too. They both enjoyed the puzzle and did well, but couldn’t believe that the school was real. Nevertheless, they decided to give it a try. He describes that first month, Piscine, as a great experience – hectic, but fun.
