About CodeFin
In 96 Words
Hi, my name is Joe! I am 25 26 27 year old student living in Salt Lake City, Utah. Life is good here in the Rocky Mountains where all four seasons can be enjoyed. This is my blog titled, CodeFin.net, it is in its second year of operation. This is my place to talk about life. I focus on software, code, and school, but I have been known to talk about anything that strikes my fancy. Thanks for visiting. I hope you enjoy it, and come back often. I really like comments, so feel free to leave them.
About this Site
The idea of being able to publish my thoughts and feelings to the world was just too much to resist, so CodeFin.net was born. I try to update as often as I have something meaningful to say, though sometimes I update even if I don't. My original thought was to write about what it is like to be a student studying computer science, but really it is bigger and deeper than that. This blog is about my experience, the way I see the world, and what I think about it.
You are looking at the second incarnation of this site, as it was re-designed in August 2005 to celebrate its one year anniversary. For this design I must credit Jeff Croft for general design inspiration, and for giving me permission to shamelessly steal the formatting for my flickr badge. I also need to thank Michael Sarver for help with a rather frustrating CSS issue I was experiencing. Finally, I would like to thank Rich Finlinson, for carefully editing this long page of prose. CodeFin is hosted by DreamHost, a company that I whole-heartedly endorse.
A more in-depth look
Academic Pursuit
I am a student at the University of Utah. I am half way three quarters done with a bachelor's degree in computer science. While computer science is my passion, it took a while to figure that out. I spent my first three years of college life pursuing a bachelor's degree in biology, thinking I wanted to be an MD. I don't begrudge those years, as I learned a lot about the way that the natural world works. But I don't enjoy the messiness of biological science.
When I started my academic career, I got a job as a darkroom technician at the university with a group that took care of the photographic needs of the faculty/staff and photography classes. There was an E-6 slide processor, a traditional black and white darkroom, and a full service studio. I got good at processing and printing black and white film. It was a good job, with a lot of homework time. Campus jobs may not pay a lot, but they are student friendly. Being a darkroom technician had nothing to do with being a pre-med student, but photography is a hobby of mine, and the pay was ten dollars an hour so I didn't complain.
By six months into the darkroom job, the digital revolution took huge bite out of sales, and it wasn't financially responsible to keep running a chemical darkroom. When the darkroom downsized I took nearly a two dollar pay cut to hang on as a media equipment courier. I had just signed the loan on a new car so I needed to keep working. The manual labor thing wasn't my style, but it was fun to work in a relaxed student-friendly environment. I made some friends, and helped out with the implementation and beta testing of some new asset management and scheduling software. I didn't realize it at the time, but this planted the seeds to change my major, though they wouldn't bloom for another year or so.
Before I took the darkroom job in 2001, I put in an application with the IT department of a large health maintenance organization. Early in 2002, they hired me as a temp, with the option to become a full-fledged employee if things worked out. I jumped at the opportunity, left university employment, joined the private sector and landed a nice raise in the process.
In February of 2006 I'll celebrated my fourth anniversary with my current employer. I've grown and so has my job description. I started out doing maintenance on their vendor file. This tedious work taught me a lot about how IT works in large companies, and I was close to the development process. After my first year, I started working as a quality assurance tester. This threw me right into the nuts and bolts of the software system. We still develop on an IBM iSeries running OS/400. RPG may be archaic but it's still at the heart of many enterprise applications.
In addition to QA testing, I now provide some second level support, and help design and write specifications for software enhancements and new projects. The design is my favorite part of the job, because I get to work closely with programmers. Ultimately my employment here helped me realize that I wanted to change my major to computer science. So beginning spring semester of 2004 I started my new life as a computer science major.
My job often shows the differences between sanitary academics, and gritty real world situations. I'm always seeing real world case studies to support academic discussions on software development.
That brings me up to date. I am learning and growing as a software developer, always looking for new technologies and opportunities to expand my knowledge. Computer science evolves constantly. To stay current I must learn new things all the time. To help invent the future, I've got to be creative and learn how to expand on the lessons I've learned. The road to deciding on a major was long and winding for me, but I am glad to have found it. At this point in the game, it is about learning all the theory I can, coding a lot, and passing the classes well.
Hobbies/Interests
Sometimes I complain that I'm a Joe-of-many-trades but master of none. I'm lucky to have a lot of interests. Well roundedness isn't a bad thing at all, but sometimes I would like to be more specialized. I am striving as a student programmer right now, and those that know me will attest to the effort that I am focusing in that area now, but there are many other things as well.
ReadingI didn't always love books. I remember throwing fits as a fifth grader required to read 2,000 pages each semester. But in high school I took AP English literature, and have been stuck on books ever since.
MusicMusic plays a major role in my life. I enjoy participating both as a listener and sometimes as a musician. Music expresses the human condition with such power. I listen to a wide variety of genres. I play a bit of piano, love to sing.
FoodFine Dining. Gourmet Cooking. Family Favorites. I love to cook, and eat. Sometimes I like the cooking more than the eating. It is a creative process, and is a lot of fun. Blame this one on the cult-food audience created by FoodTv.
GardeningLearned at the hands of my grandfather, it is another great pastime. It is good for the soul to improve the earth. Many life lessons can be learned in the garden, they don't call it the law of the harvest for nothing.
Camping/HikingAs a Boy Scout I gained appreciation for the minimalist approach to backpacking, and quickly learned essential wilderness survival skills. I haven't backpacked in a long while, but nestled here in the Wasatch Mountains, an evening hike is only 10 minutes away. The grandeur of nature is best appreciated when you are with it and sustained by it.
PhotographyMy father taught me how to process black and white film in our fruit storage room that we converted into a dark room one afternoon. My grandfather gave me my first SLR camera, later we built a darkroom in his unfinished basement together. Everyone sees the world through a different set of eyes. Photography allows one to share that vision with everyone else. At one point in life, I served as the photo-editor for a campus magazine with distribution of 15,000. It was a blast, and I learned a lot about publication.
GolfAs a kid I golfed with my grandparents. It was a lot of fun, and then I forgot it. Just two years ago, I got a set of golf clubs for my birthday, and though I don't get out as often as I would like, it is great to get outside and swing the clubs.
MMORPGsOne of the influences in my decision to major in Computer Science. The online community fascinates me. The depth of the games is amazing. The idea of creating an alternate reality, as an escape from the real world has its appeals. What a marketing idea, create a subscription-based game that one can never win, that never ends. I am not playing any games currently- there just isn't time right now, but in the past I have played Ultima Online, Star Wars Galaxies, EverQuest II, and World of Warcraft. I have a lot of respect for the concept brought to reality.
WritingI don't pretend to fancy myself a writer, but this whole blog thing shows my dedication to the idea of writing in general. Not to mention it is a good deal of fun to write out my thoughts and feelings and send them out into the great void known as the Internet.
ComputingI love the Internet. I love the things that computers can do to add interest and ease to our lives. I love programming. The idea of organizing bits and having them do useful things is exciting. Before computer science, I would never stay up until 2 AM working on a project, but when it comes to computing it has been known to happen. It is a good exercise in problem solving. I built my first web page in 2002, I built my first computer from components in 2004. It has been a rush, and I am so glad to have found a hobby that can become a career.
BicyclesI don't own a bicycle right now, but Several years ago the bicycle was my main mode of transportation. There is a certain thrill that comes by working to get from destination to destination; it provides a real sense of accomplishment. I took a spinning class with my father this last summer, and had a blast. I think that I would like to get into it again. So I went out and purchased a bike a few weeks ago and am now getting back into the sport.
During my middle school years I spent a couple of hours in the pool every day. I was a member of a swim team. It was a lot of fun. Through swimming I learned that physical activity is a great tap for stress. I'd get into the pool and swim out all of my frustrations. The competition was good for me. Eventually I got so busy that there wasn't time to keep up the competitive thing, and I put swimming on the back burner. I don't swim at all right now, but maybe someday I will take this up again.
ActingActing along with singing was the hobby of my high school years. I loved it, and still enjoy seeing shows. There's something fun about pretending to be someone else. A lot goes into putting on a good production, and I gained much of this appreciation from my experiences putting on shows in high school. Back in the day, I played Motel in Fiddler on the Roof, and Demetrius in A Midsummer Nights Dream. Lots of fun. Now I occasionally enjoy helping out with a local road show, or a musical put on at the Junior High.
TravelI would love to get travel more. My travel experience thus far just scratches the surface as to what is possible. There are so many great places to see on this planet. I am sure it will be a lifetime pursuit. This summer I managed to get to New York and Philadelphia for a few days. It was a total blast!
VolunteerismI could certainly do a lot more, but the little bit that I do is very satisfying. This fall will mark the third year that I have helped out with the Special Olympics Fall Sports Classic. It fun to help, and great to be involved. Service is beneficial to both the server and the served.
