Interview with a Dragon Blogger: James Braga

So in an effort to help showcase some of our writing staff here at dragonblogger.com I decided to come up with an Interview series for some of most frequent contributors and writers who have been with the site more than 6 months, many have been with the site for several years and contribute not only written content for the site, but also YouTube video content and even Twitch live game streaming content.  For those who are new to the site, or may not know, my name is Justin Germino and I am the original Dragon Blogger who started this site in 2008, yes can you believe that I have been running dragonblogger.com for 8 years this August!  I will be personally interviewing the various members of our team and showcasing them here.

Today our Interview is with James Braga

You can listen to the audio interview here or read below!

https://soundcloud.com/dragonblogger/interview-with-a-dragon-blogger-james-braga

James published his first article with dragonblogger.com on August 21st 2014!

Justin: Introduce yourself to our audience, tell them a little about yourself and where you live

James: My name is James Braga. I was originally from the Pacific North West, Oregon to be exact. About 3 years back I took a big leap and moved to New Hampshire and got married to my beautiful wife Rachel. I’m just the average big old teddy bear. Have always had a passion for cars and electronics. I’m studying Information Systems in school. So you can say my life pretty much circles on one end of electronics to the other every single day.

Justin: What do you do on your spare time? What hobbies do you like or games do you play?

James: On my spare time when I have some I tend to hang out with friends and family. To me, if I’m not messing with electronics I’m with my family. I wouldn’t have it any other way. I like to act like a fool and make everyone laugh when I can. One of my little hobbies is cooking and another is gaming, I love to game. Another hobby I have is loud stereos. I can never leave the original deck in a car for that long. I tend to always add subwoofers to my cars.

Justin: What first interested you in becoming a writer or product reviewer for Dragon Blogger?

James: What first interested me in becoming a blogger for dragonblogger was this video I did of me tossing a Logitech keyboard across the room and destroying it. I just received a new keyboard from a friend so I thought I would make a fun video. From there Justin noticed it and ask me if I had ever done reviews. To be honest I had not done any major reviews before that. It was fun learning the ways of reviews and doing videos for are fans and followers. I hope to keep learning and making better videos and more informative written reviews.

Justin: When reviewing products what do you look for and what methodologies do you use to test a product?

James: My methodology to reviewing is to put an item through its paces even if it can harm the device. I think most people want to see real world experience on how the item really holds up. I have even tossed my own phone through the air and down stairs to test items for our fans. Even though if it would have broken the product and it would have been at my own cost.  I also look for how the item stacks up compared to the cost.

Justin: What are some of your favorite brands that you have worked with and/or want to work with in the future?

James: I enjoyed working with many of the company’s we have contact with one being Alienware . Doing several videos and written articles for the Steam machine was such a great experience. Another company was DXRacer and the chair I just reviewed.  It was a first to review something like this for the blog site and made for a great experience.  Now V-MODA was a real awesome experience and I have never heard audio so clear through headphones before like theirs. There are so many more I enjoyed working with from Havit to AVerMedia.

I would love to work with a few companies in the future like Gigabyte or Asus. I would really like to work with Alienware again and DXRacer.  I must admit I would love to work with all the company I have worked with in the past. They all have been fun.

Here is the DXRacer Chair Video Showcase for reference.

Justin: Do you enjoy doing written content more or video/rich media content when doing reviews and why?

James: To be honest I like to do videos and written sometimes, but my written can kill my editor though since I’m dyslexic and my grammar can be thick with off-phrase words.  That one thing I do like about written reviews is I can learn to correct my mistakes. I think the followers may like the videos more but I know the written has more in-depth content for them.

Justin: What are some of the challenges you have faced as a writer/reviewer for Dragon Blogger?

James: A few challenges I have faced are a reader is not thinking I tested items enough. I think people should know what their paying for and for that I think proper testing is the way to go. I also think another challenge is not reviewing enough items that are coming out on the market. Something like Earbuds gets kind of tiring since we go through so many pairs in testing and reviewing.

Justin: What is the #1 item that has been on your wish list for a while that you haven’t had a chance to get yet?

James: One thing that is on my wish list, well there is two to be honest. One would be a full blown gaming laptop. I won’t name a name since there are so many nice ones out there I would like to test and review for the followers. The second would be a 4k curved display. I think that one would be really fun.

Justin: Where do you see yourself in 5 years personally (regardless of the site) what do you see yourself doing?

James: Where do I see myself in 5 years? Well I hope to be finished with school and on to a job that I enjoy. I hope to still be reviewing on dragonblogger. Since I enjoy it so much. I also hope to own my own home at some point so I can build myself a battle station gaming/review room. I know at some point we hope to move back to the West Coast.

Justin: Yeah, man cave to the max I wish I could have a fully decked man cave too. Is there anything else you would like to share with our readers about yourself, if you wanted one thing from readers or our fans what would it be?

James: One thing I would love to see from are fans is their happiness. Everyone deserves to be happy. That and I would love to see what they would like us to review in the future. Their items could become are future reviews.

Justin: I completely agree, one reason why I love working with brands to giveaway products is to make a fan/reader happy.  I enjoy giving back to the community when I can and in any way I can.  Thank you for your time with the interview James and keep up the good work.

I encourage our readers to check out James’s Dedicated Playlist on our YouTube Channel and leave a comment asking James any questions you have.