The Women from Byte
The team at Byte Productions is six people strong. Half of them are women: System Administrator Mary Swarthout, Content Developer Sue Nolff and Programmer Hailey Patterson. They each took a different path to join this Traverse City-based web design company. Swarthout worked for eight years in offshore oil where she wrote lots of code. Nolff’s background is in design and Patterson studied programming at the University of Michigan. They all love being able to bounce ideas and questions around the office.
“I’ve learned so much in a short period of time,” said Swarthout. “The reason for that is it’s such a collaborative office.”
Together, they create websites with unique design and special customizations for each client. In November, the new site for Leelanau Coffee Roasting Co. launched. Patterson built a custom portal for the business’ wholesale clientele.
With the company for nearly 15 years, Nolff has been at Byte the longest of the three. She’s been able to observe the evolution of the tech industry. “It’s changing — it’s definitely changing,” she said. “It used to be that designers and programmers were completely different animals. But now, people are more willing to work together to solve problems and create even better products.”