Part Programmer, Part Designer, All Geek
Design, technology, and programming have always been a huge part of me. I remember as a kid I would look at our old Ford Aerostar, and try to draw what it may look like for the next model year. Throughout my childhood and into my teenage years, when I wasn’t sketching out game ideas, I would tinker around with computers. Later on I started a small personal business building, selling, fixing, and overclocking them. Despite my relative success, I was never satisfied. I’d be building a computer, while thinking about ways that my next computer could be better.
Like most people my age I also held LAN parties where my friends and I would play Starsiege: Tribes for hours on end. I was so into that game that I decided to create my own mod. Enevitibly, this lead to a serious interest in game design. Ironically around this time, Dynamix, the company behind my favorite game went out of business, then the founders started a successful indie-development company called “Garage Games“. I emailed them excitedly with a list of questions about how to get into the industry. Perhaps they were flattered, or perhaps it was because I was sixteen and they didn’t think I’d go anywhere with it, but they gave me a free license to their game engine, Torque to “play around” with.
It wasn’t until junior year that I realized that there was a career path which included a perfect balance between both of my passions.
For the next few years off and on I programmed with the engine, and designed models and textures in 3DS Max. My efforts never resulted in anything solid, but it was enough to inspire me to major in Computer Science. In my freshmen year, I was coding in C++ every night. I enjoyed this, but I soon missed creating art. I then decided to switch majors to Graphic Design.
The rest of my college career centered around Graphic Design, but talking to my Computer Science friends, I regretted giving up on programming. It wasn’t until junior year that I realized that there was a career path which included a perfect balance between both of my passions. I took to Web Design very quickly, and have been successful in my career since taking on my first freelance project back in ’05.
In addition to freelancing, I worked as an intern at Bridgeline Digital for about a year. I then spent the next year or so at Conversion Associates as a contract web designer. Now I work full time at iRacing.com, handling front and back end web design and development.
Overall, I’ve stayed pretty consistant through the years. I still love playing games, talking about technology, creating the most streamlined code possible, and designing to my fullest extent. My head is still firmly situated a few years in the future, always dreaming about what’s coming next.
