Who I Am

I am a detail oriented, reliably punctual person motivated by the knowledge that someone will use the tools I participate in creating. I enjoy solving problems without creating needless complexity or recreating solutions to problems that have been long solved. I try to filter out information that isn't apparently practically applicable. I love learning about new libraries and technologies, but try to focus on the ones that will actually be supported long-term.

I am a musician, a sound engineer, a competitive video game player, a father, husband, an avid movie-goer and quoter, and a fan of the long-form podcast setting. I possess the incredible gift of being able to comfortably sit and work for hours at a time with my long stints of video gaming sessions as a youth, and have many years of troubleshooting hardware and software problems in order to continue playing those games.

I am far more motivated by a goal than a clock, and absolutely detest wasted time as it is the only thing in this life that cannot be reclaimed. I'll spend five hours automating a process that might have taken one in order to prevent redoing it later. Even if it doesn't pan out, I've become more skilled at automation! There's much more, but you're probably tired of reading by now.

My Programming Pilgrimage

When I was twelve years old I found myself watching my older brother playing Exile II and Realmz when I decided that I would be a computer programmer. The idea of writing words and having the computer understand them seemed entirely magical and logical at the same time. I picked up a book in my early teens called "Learn C on the Macintosh" and read it nonstop. Of course I had very little idea what the book was trying to tell me, but it certainly made an impact.

After playing a variety of video games, one genre stood out as another catalyst toward my programming goal -- MUD (otherwise known as Multi User Dimension/Dungeon). I scratched my programming itch for automation by creating "triggers" and "aliases" in my MUD client (Rapscallion for Mac, zMud for PC) that would automatically complete simple quests on certain servers. I quickly became a world builder, interacted with other MUD hosts, and eventually installed Mandrake Linux and Red Hat after my windows installation of Cygwin was disappointingly incompatible with most MUD code bases.

After that phase of my life was over, I moved on to college and was convinced at the time that networking was a better career choice, but I did enroll in one Java class. However, after the first few semesters, the extremely slow pace of information flowing from professor to student, combined with a lack of practical application of any information gleaned from the leisurely paced classes encouraged me to forego any further "education" from this higher learning institution. And I'm very glad I did.

After a few more years of different jobs, I eventually landed on the Navy as a career choice. I went through a straight year of technical training to be a Radioman on a guided missile submarine, the USS OHIO. Trained as an electronics technician, I reached second class petty officer prior to finishing my contract of five years, and afterward was very motivated to enjoy life as a computer programmer.

My brother recommended a coding boot camp that he also attended in Albuquerque, NM called Deep Dive Coders. The GI Bill unfortunately didn't cover it, so that was a chunk of cash out of my pocket after the military. I had saved up enough money to last for awhile for my wife and myself afterward so I wasn't pressured to get a job right away. The class had a very high attrition rate, and we probably lost half the students over the course of the ...course. I and another survivor decided to start our own web development shop in Albuquerque, and quickly had numerous clients. I also started participating in the local scene to get some more experience under my belt.

The jobs I've held since then have moved me back to my hometown, Las Vegas, NV. I love the flexibility that web development has given my life, and intend to stay on this path for a long time to support my wife and our new addition to the family.