Since the age of 12, when my dad brought home our very first PC, I have been enamored by computers, and specifically programming. Starting young with variations of Basic, I found myself writing online chat apps and whiteboards for Windows at a time when ICQ was king. During my teens, I became fixated on game development and spent many hours in the basement working on a top-down multiplayer roleplaying game that never truly saw the light of day.
Years later, after heading to college for my Bachelor’s in Computer Science with a concentration in Game Design, I found myself being torn as I was drawn into the world of web development. The immediate satisfaction of seeing coding changes on-screen compared to the hours of effort needed for small achievements in the game programming world drew me in.
After changing my concentration to Web Development and completing my undergraduate studies, I continued onwards towards an MBA while working full-time at QVC. It took almost three years coding in Java, ASP, C++, Visual Basic (COM+), VB.NET, and Perl while working with Oracle, SQL Server, MS Access, and COBOL backends to decide that I’m not a big fan of working for a big corporation.
I moved to Austin in 2008 to integrate games at Challenge Games into Facebook. Working with CakePHP, a framework I had familiarized myself with while creating a free online dating service in my free time, the company grew to the point of being noticed and eventually acquired by Zynga. Unfortunately, burnout from too many 30+ hour days had set in, and I left my position prior to benefiting from the acquisition.
At the beginning of 2010, I began contracting for Food on the Table. Unfamiliar with Ruby at my hire date, I’ve come to learn a significant amount about the language, and I even find myself committing patches to gems on Github from time to time. My time with the company has not only taught me much about the language I now use nearly 100% of the time, but it has also provided me with significant insight into the data analysis side of business decision making, specifically regarding the Lean Startup methodology. Now as a fulltime employee, I hope to help Food on the Table grow to represent the vision that brought the company to life.