I began building computers in 1993 when my mother (a quadrilateral amputee) was given a computer as an accessibility device by the state of California. As was common at the time, her IBM 386 machine would break in a myriad of ways and the independent computer technician we paid to repair these issues took me on as her apprentice, teaching me to identify the different boards used in computers, how to assemble them into a working machine, and even write necessary system files from memory (config.sys, command.com, etc.). Soon, I had built my own 8088 and taken over the tech support for fixing my mother's computer.
In high school, I had access to programming classes, including C++, Pascal, and Basic/VBasic and taught myself HTML (and later CSS and JavaScript) for fun. I began building websites as a freelancer shortly after graduating high school and continued to teach myself various other languages and frameworks: PHP, Python, Angular, and React. I am currently experimenting with single board computers, headless CMS (content management systems), and delving into machine learning and data science. I also truly enjoy QA, testing, auditing, code reviews, and peer programming and I am passionate about accessibility.
My lengthy and varied studies give me a unique perspective - from understanding hardware processing and memory management to the evolution of various languages and approaches, and my experience in the corporate world gives me insight into business practices and needs, laws and regulations, as well as team dynamics.
Currently, I am building a new personal portfolio site utilizing headless CMS and am looking to launch it in the upcoming week.
