Our Associate Moves On

The inimitable Mat Maquis (better known online as “Wilto”) has struck out on his own as a freelance consultant. Now that we’re positive he’s not within earshot, we’d like to take a minute to talk about how excellent it was to work with him.

We were excited to welcome Mat onboard back in 2014 because of his renown for inclusive web development. He’d done excellent work with the Filament Group demonstrating how no-frills best practices can make all the difference to the real people who use web applications. He’d also been a leader in making responsive images a reality, showing a community of empassioned developers how they could have a seat at the table of web standards. We’d be remiss not to mention his most cherished accomplishment of that era: completing the 1988 video game Mega Man 2 without losing a single life. Doctor Wiley don’t got nothing on Wilto.

He continued to deliver in all of these areas during his time at Bocoup. He promoted awareness in the web standards process through writing and public speaking. He helped his fellow developer make the web more open and inclusive by chartering an open device lab in our Boston office. And though this is unverified, I believe he beat Final Fantasy XV in a single sitting.

As impressive as these accomplishments may be, Wilto wasn’t satisfied by “more of the same.” He pushed himself into new challenges. Over the course of our three years together, we watched Mat become a boxer, an author, and a movie star.

All the while, he was a resource for those of us saw him every day. He championed the aforementioned frill-free best practices with his consulting clients, and he helped us do the same by leading some engaging internal workshops. He organized great talks for the BostonJS meetup group. He stealthily maintained wood shops across three iterations of the Bocoup Loft, using them to craft canes, podiums, and more. And he cooked for us–wonderful cuisine, magically produced from our humble office kitchen.

We’re grateful for the time we spent together, and he lessons we learned continue to inform our work in web standards. We’re sorry to see him go. At the same time, we know Wilto will keep pushing the web forward no matter where he goes. We’re counting on it.