This post is a bit of a ramble. Hopefully someday I’ll draw some cartoons to accompany it.

• the middle school script kiddie
  • started when I installed Debian on parent’s computer; they soon bought me my own computer
  • unhealthy obsession with Linux, FreeBSD, and other obscure operating systems like AROS
  • lots of superficial knowledge
  • shell script doodles
  • occasional use of Wireshark
  • little to no code being written
  • excessive time invested to thwarting web filters at school
  • primarily a user of tools
• high school networking geek, TI-84 BASIC, Pythonista
  • mainly created calculator programs to make math class easier
  • ocasionally tried to learn Java and gave up often
  • learned about Python and stuck with it
  • didn’t really have any strong mentors
  • learned a decent amount about how routers and the internet works through computer networking technician courses
  • continued using Linux but didn’t update my shell scripts as much (played way too much Civ V, RuneScape, and other games on my gaming desktop)
• the early college stagnation
  • flirted with being a mathematician or electrical engineer
  • didn’t really focus on internships enough as I should’ve
  • constant feeling that I should’ve invested more in learning how to code in high school
• late college and post college panic
  • worked as a course assistant and did some linux security module stuff which was really cool
  • senior design project was pretty fun!
  • invested a lot of time working on all these JavaScript frameworks e.g. Angular, Meteor, etc
  • found decent mentors during my senior design project and contributed to some open source projects e.g. Vespene, OpsMop (unfortunately they never took off)
  • the job finding panic
• industry life
  • job offer from IBM
  • specialized enterprise technologies
  • primiarly a creator of tools
  • build systems and other specialized knowledge are often a blocker
  • learned code interviews are hard
  • moved to San Jose, California from Durham, North Carolina.
  • more focused on learning how to use ‘practical’ technologies and tools e.g. Go, React, Docker, and Kubernetes
  • huge disconnect between actual work and interviewing skills