What I Do

I don’t like talking about myself much, I’d rather talk about how to do stuff or what I think the best way to do said stuff is. But Chad Myers “tagged” me in his What I do post. Its been so long since someone used the word “tag” outside of metadata and folksonomies that it took me a while to realize he meant it like the schoolyard game tag.

My Day Job

During the day I spend my time at IM Flash where we make the NAND that makes your cell phones and mp3 players go. My title is “Software Engineer” and I work in the group that supports the engineers. We support a metric ton of systems that help the engineers keep track of the manufacturing process. Most of these systems involve schlepping data from one system to the other. We collect data from the tools, process the data, report on the data, move the data to centralized systems, report on that data again, etc… Some of our systems are 3rd party, but most are homegrown. I end up doing my fair share of Perl on Linux and Solaris, as well as WinForms and ASP.NET apps in C#. We also have a nice backlog of VB apps as well, but we aren’t much of a Java shop.

When I’m not helping to keep the ship running, I actually get to do a bit of development. I am also the site’s IT architecture oversight representative, although it probably isn’t as fancy as you’d think. I participate in a variety of groups, both on site and around the company. I run a fun little group called TechShare, where we meet weekly and watch interesting videos and screencasts to help us improve as developers. I am also the self-proclaimed Agile and Ruby evangelist, and I’m sure everyone is tired of hearing it from me. When I’m not providing support or new development, I generally try to help improve things as much as I can.

My “Contribution”

I don’t consider my time at MountainWest Ruby, LLC a job, per se. I suppose I should as it is a real company, but I don’t take a salary and everything we do is to promote the Ruby language. MountainWest Ruby is the organization that hosts the MountainWest RubyConf, which is coming up March 28-29. MountainWest Ruby is a fun thing to be a part of, as I get to meet and interact with alot of really interesting and smart people that I probably wouldn’t have the opportunity otherwise.

While we have a handful of folks involved with MountainWest Ruby, I think it would be fair to say I do the majority of the behing-the-scenes work. Pat Eyler is the public face of the conference, and he and I work very closely to make sure we act responsibly toward the community. I like to think that the community has entrusted us with their money, so I am very conscious where we spend it. Some might say I’m too frugal, but we operate on a shoestring budget so I feel I need to be.

One thing I can say is that I love the Ruby community. It is by far the nicest and most giving online community I’ve ever been a part of, and I’m humbled that I get to be a part of that in some small way.

My Night Job

Forgive me for the shameless self-promotion, but I have been known to moonlight on Ruby, Rails, or .NET projects. My little one-man company is HumaneCode. I’m not actively seeking work at the moment so the website is embarrassingly bare. I’m sure you’ll understand.

Other Stuff

I’ve got more going on as well. I do a podcast about Ruby called Rubiverse that is alot of fun. I try to be active in the ALT.NET community as well, and hope to grow a local group.

My Family

My family is supremely important; I have a a wonderful wife and two beautiful little girls (with one in the oven). Without getting too personal, the past year has been hard for us. What I will say is the our trials have brought us even closer.

I know this list seems like alot of stuff, but it all pales in comparison to the importance of my family. My wife has been very gracious to allow me to follow my interests and take chances. Without her and the girls it would be meaningless.

Who Next?

It seems implicit in this meme is to pass the pain along. Fortunately, there isn’t isn’t a set number I have to inflict, so I’ll just choose the two following.

1. Luke Melia – Because I’m curious about what he does next.
2. Joe O’Brien – Because I find his business fascinating and I want to know more.