Don Nakashima

Growing up, I was always very competitive, in order to be the best version of myself that I know I could be. That's why I came to Atomic.

My gravitation towards software came from my love of gaming growing up. I was always fortunate and happy to have parents that spoiled me in return for my hard work in school and extracurriculars. This competitiveness led me to play Division 1 soccer at the University of Detroit Mercy on a full-ride athletic scholarship. After two long and tough years balancing school and soccer, I had decided I wanted to focus more on school and developing my skills as a software developer. Michigan State became my home for the next few years.

Once at Michigan State, I realized I needed a way to satisfy the competitive drive I felt inside to better myself. I ended up competing on a scholarship in the Big Ten Network for a popular online game called League of Legends and went on to the national championships in 2019. Alongside, I participated in many hackathons and ended up winning first place for a 2-player asymmetric virtual reality game called Epochalyptic developed within a 36-hour time period.

Aside from developing websites and mobile applications for Atomic, I specialize in game development in my free time. Outside of work, I enjoy being competitive by playing video games of various types. Meanwhile offline, I enjoy playing guitar, kicking around a soccer ball, and breakdancing from time to time.