Developer Background

Humble Beginnings (2015-2017)

I jumped in the deep end of programming somewhere towards the end of 2015 with Java out of pure boredom. I learned through videos online, websites, and forums. I had learned my way around basic Java usage, after that I began to familiarize myself with JFrame and Canvas. Soon after following tutorials on how to make simple games.

In 2016 and 2017 is where I began to ramp up many of my skills and began branching out into different areas of development. This included experimenting with Python, C# with Unity, C++, and others. Part of this included my first introduction to web development with HTML, CSS, and JavaScript.

At this point I had created a website or two for myself, showcasing some projects of mine. Being a static site, these were hosted on Netlify.

Modern Web Development (2018-2022)

It wasn't really until around mid-2018 where I had decided that web development is where I wanted to stay. I had started developing full projects using JavaScript trying out many different frameworks, libraries, and utilities.

In early-2019 I pretty much has solidified myself in the React ecosystem, which allowed me to pump out many different projects while trying all libraries it had to offer. This is where I picked up Gatsby for my static site needs. I also had learned about TypeScript at this time. It's hard to believe there was a time where I didn't use TypeScript.

In 2020 I finally started to make projects that incorporated the backend, most importantly using databases like RethinkDB and MongoDB. I also had learned to use Socket.IO. Due to financial limitations, these projects were only online temporarily due to them being hosted on platforms like Heroku's free tier, or servers ran by friends.

I transitioned to using Next.js for my projects somewhere around the end of 2020.

College Years (2022-2026)

After burning out through most of 2021-2022, college was the reset I needed. I got my hands on a server of my own, meaning I was free to build anything I wanted. During this time, I had also decided to try and learn the best practices and patterns used for web development in general, user authentication, backend and API development, and how to truly use Next.js.

My studies had allowed me to learn the fundamentals of computer science and provided countless opportunities to apply these concepts in group projects. Because of this, I was able to gain valuable experience with languages, tools, and frameworks I might not have otherwise explored on my own, such as Python, C, PostgreSQL, and Flask.

During my years at college I completed two internships, both of which at Magna Electronics. In both of these positions I worked closely with the engineering and controls teams to develop internal tools ranging from inventory management to data visualization. I also had the chance to work with Ignition, an industry-standard SCADA and MES platform widely used in manufacturing, which introduced me to a completely different side of software development, in which I was able to bring my background in web development and Java to the table to create applications and custom modules to be used across the factory floor.

Present Day (2026-Present)

In May 2026 I graduated from Oakland University with a B.S. in Computer Science. Graduation has opened up a lot of time in my schedule, allowing me to focus on upskilling, diving deeper into industry best practice such as more advanced DevOps, containerization with Docker, microservice architecture with Redis and BullMQ, and secrets management.

In this age of AI, I'm also exploring how to integrate AI into my workflow. My goal is to become more efficient while still being able to learn and grow as a developer. I want to collaborate with AI, rather than let it replace every line of code I write. I am still exploring what AI can and cannot do, and how to best utilize it as a tool.

I'm currently seeking my first full-time role as a full-stack developer/software engineer.