Hi! My name is Mike, I’m a father of two and I’ve held a career in Computer Programming for 20 years now. Over the course of my career, I have made many mistakes and learned the hard way how to navigate this industry. In recent years I’ve become a person that many come to for career advice. Where do I start? What should I learn? And I’ve helped many to better prepare themselves for the workforce.
My Goal
I’m here to pass down what I have learned in hopes to give people a clear path to success with a rewarding career in Computer Programming.
The Problem
There is an abundance of work out there and not enough skilled developers to fill those positions. There are an estimated 500,000 jobs that will go unfilled by 2020. I feel this could be due to a lack of a clear education path. Hopefully, if you’re reading this, I can help you too!
The Plan
I want to show you how to discover the engineer inside and help you find the right curriculum to get you working. Not only will I talk through what and how to learn but also how to find the right job for you! I’ll help you build your resume and job submission kit. You’ll be prepared for challenging interview questions. And once you’ve got the job we will also cover best practices and soft skills you should know to keep your job.
My Background
I started writing code in my early teens and my learning device was an MSN WebTV. It was for sure ahead of its time. But it was the 1990s version of FireTV or AppleTV. But you could send emails and mostly use it for browsing websites. Streaming video hadn’t really arrived yet. I was still on a 56k dial-up modem!
I was first introduced to HTML and CSS through the WebTV email editor. A friend of mine showed me that I could write this code and stylize my emails! Big deal when everyone was sending black & white emails.
Well my High School, Redondo Union High Schoo, had a budget enough to run a small ISP so I interned there and learned quite a bit about the web. I was still very lost and unclear on how to make a career out of all this.
By the time I turned 17 I was working at Northrop Grumman as a jr. Network Engineer. Back then in the late 90, getting your Cisco Certificate in Networking was all the rage. But after a few years there I began to realize the IT wasn’t my gig.
I got odd jobs here and there, working as a web developer contractor. Nothing spectacular. I made barely more than minimum wage but at least I wasn’t burning my hands making fast food! Eventually, I felt though that I wasn’t going to advance without formal training.
I tried vocational schools and even a few different Jr. Colleges. One turned out to have pretty good tech funding, which was Santa Monica College. After a few years there I felt the curriculum was dated (This was 2006). I sought out a more modern education and found myself at the Art Institute of Los Angeles, CA. They had a great Bachelor’s program there that was half Graphic Design and half programming. Four years later I completed my B.S. in Interactive Media and Design.
Don’t worry! I’m not here to sell you anything or recommend that you drop everything in your life and start a 4-year program. Nowadays there is such a wealth of online training and employers now are so desperate to hire that all you need to do is prove that you have the skills and you’re hired!
Just 6 months before I graduated college I had my first job at Eclipse Advertising in Burbank, CA making 80k Annually. I felt like I was living the dream. Working on campaigns from Disney, Dreamworks, Sega, Vivendi, Warner Brothers and many others! I had a killer portfolio by the time I graduated. But it didn’t matter. I already had my dream job.
Years past and we moved to Seattle, WA where I worked at Microsoft, Bobber Interactive and Big Fish Games. While I was there I had an interest in teaching and a friend of mine, who was already teaching at IADT – Seattle (International Academy of Design and Technology), got me an adjust professor position. I was SO Excited to finally teach! I taught game engine development with Flash and ActionScript. It was a blast! I really miss it!
Later we moved back to LA. I worked at what would be the final chapter in my video game career, Buffalo Studios. Life happened and I became a father. The reality hit me soon after that the Entertainment Industry isn’t very family friendly or supportive of work-life balance. So I decided to make a transition into Open Source Development and got a job working at FastPay.
After 8 years of doing Flash/ActionScript, this was my first job using JavaScript. We were an AngularJS shop. There I had a very good lead who stressed quality code and having a deep understanding of technology. I became both good at JavaScript by also pretty good with CSS. Having a poor understanding of CSS is the one thing I can say will ruin your life as a front-end developer.
I moved on to BabyBox where I became really strong with React, NodeJS, Firebase and Google App Engine. Finally, I have made it beyond the front-end into full-stack development. Just this year I have found myself at FabFitFun, a most unlikely place for me. But I’m doing React, Java, and MySQL as a full-stack engineer. The learning never really ends in this business but that’s what keeps it exciting!
In the end, I know as long as I keep my brain fresh I will never be out of a job. If you’ve read this far you’re on the right path to a long and rewarding career!
Welcome On Board!