Career: Begun

Five years ago I graduated UC Irvine with a bachelor's degree in English, and a bunch of app ideas.

Having studied the roots of literature for years, I felt very strongly that its power came from the huge leap forward for communication it represented:A piece of stone, or paper, or a book could embody ideas previously only captured by the tongue.It was as if the minds of the past had turned immortal, and their bodies as light as leaves, and could tumble across oceans and ages and as long as the letters could be read, their thoughts would live on.

But why wait ages for ideas to spread?And why limit the flow of ideas to a single direction?Technology and the internet were simply more interesting to me at this point in time than all the books that had been written before it (apologies to the entire literary canon).


I still maintained some roots in humanities, continuing to write spec scripts for a few more years, but also began teaching myself how to build software like I had ideas for.Once my first piece of software was rejected by Apple, I decided I was done once and for all with work that was done entirely on consignment, all work done up front, only to be rewarded if an approving body decided it was worthy.



That was the end of wishful spec scripts and iOS apps for me.There was a more free place to be:The web itself.



I switched my aim from iOS apps to web technologies, things called "HTML5", with custom server programming.I wrote several apps of my own design, even made one for a friend's business, and began gaining confidence in my abilities.

This whole time I'd been running my screen printing shop, and teaching in after school programs.While I'd initially begun teaching improv for the City of Oakland, when I displayed some software abilities, those classes took off with even more enthusiasm, and it gave me a platform to continue honing this craft while advancing my own abilities.

Eventually, I wasn't just teaching basic video game creation to young children, but real web site development to teenagers.

For me, these skills still seemed a bit surreal.Sure I'd made a few projects for myself and friends, but was I really practicing the craft of the industry?The teen program was increasingly pushing towards career building, but I didn't really know what such a career looked like.It was time that I either dove in and learned it for myself, or felt like a hypocrite for teaching.

The jobs website scene was hard to crack into.Most listings had ridiculous lists of skills that included "10 years industrial scale experience" and the sort.I wasn't sure I had what this industry was really looking for.

Fortunately for me, I'd made friends through the open source world.Particularly through my interest in and contributions to Voxel.js and Google Blockly, my incredible friend and mentor-hero Max Ogden connected me with several awesome people running companies looking to hire.

In particular, Max referred me to Aaron Davis, because of my interest in Google Blockly, looking to expand on it, having just seen how easily children picked up MIT's Scratch.Blockly ended up only being the beginning for me and Aaron, sharing a general interest in educational software and big dreams.

Aaron previously helped work on the sensationally popular Code Hero, and right now I've been chipping in some help on his latest effort, to bring a "Code Gun" into a minecraft-like world based on Voxel.js.In English?A game like Minecraft, the rage with all the kids these days, where you can write your own code to manipulate the world, as a way to help kids learn to write code themselves.I've shown it to a couple of my favorite students, and they went completely bonkers over it.

Anyways, Aaron works at a Web Development firm called Mochaleaf, and he got me an interview there, and they were open minded or crazy enough to give me a shot.Or, in case they read this, they were prudent and perceptive enough to snatch me up while I was available.

And so closes five years of completely self-structured time.It was a powerful experience.It has been beautiful to choose the pace of each day, as it's been difficult to stay motivated to work at times.Having started my own business, I finally learned what it means to run and own a business, build up a customer base, keep them, and how rewarding it feels to do good work for people who need it, but I also learned how lonely it can be to work alone.



Having been tinkering on my own software projects for these years, I've learned the building blocks of larger projects, but haven't gotten the joy of meshing skills with others, learning from them, and pushing myself to be consistently productive.I'd be lying if I said I wasn't a little bit nervous about the whole affair.Maybe I've spoiled myself!Well, it's time to find out.

I'll be starting at Mochaleaf on Monday, and I couldn't be happier.The team is full of talented and experienced people working on large, highly visible websites, and soon I'll sign an NDA and know what exactly some of them are :)

I'll take a moment to apologize to the other companies:You are all incredible people, I haven't met a single person through this process I didn't like.Mochaleaf just happens to be the right combination of what I can do, what I want to do, who I want to do it with, and where I want to do it.Okay, I could do with a shorter commute than downtown SF, but it's still the shortest commute of the companies I've been looking at.



I'm thrilled to join a team and give it my all, and try out the whole "stable career" thing, even as a passing fancy ;)



To those of you who were like me, or taught by me:Your college degree does not need to dictate your profession.Right now, software development is hot, there are more jobs than qualified applicants, yete.I'd like to take a moment to give thanks to:



* Cory Bielak:For telling me "you can teach yourself to code".It was a bigger revelation than you will ever know.

* Stephen Kochan: For writing.

* "" for demystifying CSS to me, so I could dive in easily.

* : For providing the basis in python and web app development that became the underpinning of my web development career.

* : For making a fun website to build up a lot of the popular skills for web developers today.

* : For telling me to learn , and his advice and mentorship.It was the single most empowering technology in my entire path of learning web development, and his techniques remain some of the most pure and inspiring of any I've seen.

* : For being not only one of the friendliest and most personable people I've ever met, but consistently having such interesting projects that he regularly brings together some of the most interesting people I've ever met.Max was my gateway to open source contributing, and can always recommend a good book.

* :All of its contributors!Thanks to Voxel.js, I had my first large open-source project to contribute to (my biggest contributions were animation-related:and ).The IRC and Meetups made programming for the web feel as tangibly social and fun as you intellectually know it should be.

* All my students from the City of Oakland, Parks & Recreation:Thanks to your dreams, you pushed mine further ahead, and I only hope my time in the actual industry will give me access to the skills and knowledge to empower even more youth like you to continue in your path.

* My family and friends for supporting me through this era of uncertainty.Life is always uncertain, and I don't expect it will stop, but some moments have been especially difficult, and I'm eternally grateful for the people I could rely on to be there when I needed to feel connected to the greater whole.You know who you are.



This blog post was my first act on signing & submitting my work contract.At the end of the day it's all about community, it's all about friends, and I know I don't always make the efforts to connect or communicate as well as I could, and while I've made an effort to express myself in times of vulnerability, it's naturally easier to express one's self in times of strength, so allow this to be a huge over-disclosing catch-up letter.

Feel free to ask how it's going, I hope it goes well.If you notice the color leaving my face, or I begin craving human brains, please act accordingly (help me get out!).In the meanwhile, I'll be testing the hypothesis:I can maintain a soul while working a full time job.Let's see!
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