It's not about writing code, it's about creating useful software.
The Origin Story
I worked as a scaffolder in the construction industry for 3 years until July 2018. About a year and a half prior to leaving the trades, the company I was working for was considering getting rid of company phones because the app for which they were being used was unjustifiably expensive. I was given a wonderful opportunity; if I could find a better, less expensive app, company phones could stay. I found one, and phones got to stay. But then, about 4-5 months later, the app developers introduced a bug, which made using it for our intended purposes incredibly frustrating and limiting. After a bunch of back and forth with customer support, there wasn't much hope for seeing the bug resolved, at least not any time soon. I thought to myself, "I don't know how to code, but I could probably make an app exactly like this by myself and not have any bugs like this." And I did. About 4-5 months later, after teaching myself the basics of programming through online tutorials and fumbling my way through my very first web application, I had done what I had set out to do. In the process, I fell in love with programming and decided I would do it full-time as a career.
The Career Launch
After falling in love with programming and deciding to pursue it as a career, I enrolled in online university for a 4-year Software Engineering bachelor's degree program, while continuing to work full-time. 1 year into the program, I decided it was going too slowly. I could not wait another 3 years before I was working as a programmer. I began looking into free-lance work and programs that could fast-track my career. Having heard from a couple friends about a place called Lighthouse Labs and then seeing it come up on a Google search, I decided to go in for a tour. I was so incredibly impressed by the tour that I signed up immediately. That was in March of 2018, and the earliest date I could start was July 2018. So, my last few months as a scaffolder were riddled with excitement and anxiety about what I was about to do. July rolled around and the bootcamp began. 10 weeks and $10,000 (well-spent) later, I had completed the bootcamp and was working at my first (and current) tech job as an intern developer at Adacado.
The Good Stuff
I currently work for this company, and it is fantastic. Adacado is a DIY advertising platform. Have you ever wanted to advertise something? Maybe you wrote a book or made a game, made some art or sewed your own clothing line? Well, this is where you would go if you wanted to let the world know about it. Adacado's main purpose is to cut out the middle man and make advertising easy for everyone. No dealing with advertising agencies, no waiting for weeks or months for changes to your campaign or creative. Just get in, make some ads, and serve them to the world.
My role at this company is that of product development lead. While I write plenty of front-end code (JavaScript, Vue.js, HTML, CSS), the majority of my time is spent creating back-end functionality (via Go, Bash, Kubernetes, PostgreSQL, BigQuery). When I'm not writing code, I am usually planning out upcoming projects or managing those that are ongoing.
A collaboration between myself and Daniel White. We make apps together, and in that process, we've come to learn the importance of validating ideas and their iterations before spending a ton of time and resources on a project. We have tried many forms of validation, but soon realized that there just had to be a better way. We put our heads together and came up with Am I Onto Something, which can be used to validate - and even generate - business ideas. Learn what the current supply and demand looks like with your business idea, view related Reddit conversations, and get different business model ideas from this application.
We've been having a lot of fun with this one and have been experimenting with different ideas along the way. There's lots of API work involved with the making of Am I Onto Something, and there will continue to be even more. So that has been an adventure in and of itself. Another thing we've been playing with in this platform is GPT 3.5, which we will definitely be taking advantage of even more the further along we are into building out this platform.
I created this web-app and co-founded MyCompanyPlus with my business partner Jon. It is used for helping trades companies go paperless, while also cutting out the middle man in form creation, safety documentation, HR policies, etc. Use MyCo+ to stay on top of safety "paperwork", track warehouse inventory, have quick access to maintenance records and employee training certificates, and more! Create a free account and try it out!
This web-app is written entirely in PHP and JavaScript.
I created this web-app as a free, more accurate, and less-complicated solution to big brand names like AutoCAD and Adobe (which provide you with entire suites of software, while something simple like this should be much more accessible, with much less overhead). My brother runs his own stucco and stone company and often spends a great deal of time measuring area on blueprints in order to properly quote a job. I became interested in helping him save some of that time, and after looking around online for an alternative to the expensive, clunky tools available, I decided I would just make one. So, about 15 hours of work later (not in one sitting, come on now), the first iteration of Easy Area Calculator was born and made readily available to the world.
This web-app is currently written entirely in JavaScript. I am also continuing to add features to this site.