The community of developers working with SparkPost [really has stepped up](https://www.sparkpost.com/blog/pull-requests-you-spoke-we-listened/) in the last few months: submitting pull requests, writing new client libraries, finding bugs, and helping each other out in our [community Slack](http://slack.sparkpost.com). They say you are the company you keep—well, if even a small bit of your collective awesomeness rubs off on us, we’ll know we’ve made it. 🙂

We’d like to show a little bit of love in return by highlighting some of the community members who’ve helped raise the bar for SparkPost and our tools. Today, I’ll start with [Darren Cauthon](https://twitter.com/darrencauthon), who contributed the [SparkPost C# client library](https://github.com/SparkPost/csharp-sparkpost). I asked Darren to share a little bit of his point of view.

**How long have you been a developer and what got you started in the tech world?**

I’ve been a developer for over 15 years. I got started with tech in my sophomore year, right around the time my college forces students to pick a major. I thought about being a music teacher or going for a general “business” degree, but I remembered that programming in QA Basic in junior high was fun. So I signed up for my first C++ class and never looked back.

**What do you like most about being a developer?**

Working with all types of people to solve new problems. The tech is fun, but using it to solve actual problems that exist in reality makes it very fulfilling.

**What led you to contribute to open source projects?**

Two things. First, I got over the fear that my code wasn’t good enough. Second, I’ve found it’s hard to grow as a developer when I’m limited to solving the problems that my business has. Open source provides the opportunity to solve problems that I’d otherwise never think to solve, and it provides a chance to work with developers I’d otherwise never know.

**How did you find SparkPost?**

My company was about to deploy a new Mandrill solution when [their big shakeup](http://blog.mailchimp.com/important-changes-to-mandrill/) occurred. We looked for alternatives, and my boss noticed SparkPost due to your relationship with Port25 (which we used for other solutions).

**What prompted you to create the C# client library for us?**

I saw there wasn’t one, and I wanted the experience of writing the library. I’ve learned a lot about email processing and C# features while working on the library, and that’s knowledge I’d never have gained otherwise. I’ll be able to apply that knowledge to many more things than just this library.

**What’s the hardest thing about contributing to an open source project?**

Saying “no” to contributors. Sometimes someone may offer a pull request with a feature or change that doesn’t fit. I hate having to say “no” and reject what another developer has spent time writing. But luckily I haven’t had that problem with this library, as we’ve had a great group of developers contribute new features—and every contribution has fit.

**What are you passionate about outside of work?**

I have a great family, and raising kids is fun. I’ve been a tuba player for over twenty years, and I’m slowly working towards a black-belt in Tae Kwon Do. I have a 2016 resolution to beat Ninja Gaiden without dying, so I like older console gaming. But my first passion is still programming.

I was really glad to have a chance to talk with Darren and learn more about his point of view. His project really has been a great addition to the ways folks can use SparkPost. Thanks, Darren!

Do you have an idea or project to contribute to this great community of developers? Give us a shout on the [SparkPost community Slack](http://slack.sparkpost.com/), and you might wind up in our new community features series.

—Mary

p.s. you can check out another one of Darren’s C# libraries [here](https://github.com/darrencauthon/AutoMoq).