Technical Journey
I've been shipping projects to the internet since 2008.
Back then I didn't really know what I was doing. I had ideas and I would bring them to life. I was using Dreamweaver and even Flash but I didn't really understand the backend side of things.
I moved to Seattle for college and started taking a mix of programming classes and business classes. When I found out Android apps were built using Java, the language I had been taking classes in, I started building Android apps.
In 2011, I built an app that almost immediately got 70,000 downloads. I made my first internet money on ad revenue from this app. Later I would dabble in paid apps, asking for in app donations, and then SaaS.
I really caught the bug once I learned about databases. I would take what I learned in class and implement it in one of my apps. I was often rushing through my homework just work on my apps, sometimes working until the sun rose the next morning.
Over time, I learned that getting someone to download your app is so much harder than getting them to visit your website. On top of that, people gawked at spending even a dollar on an app. My experience building data driven apps forced me to get good at API design and I decided to pivot and focus my energy on the web.
At some point these projects became my creative outlet. Web projects take skills across a wide spectrum and I love every part of it — the technical, the business, the design, the marketing.
During my time in Seattle I earned my BS in Informatics at the University of Washington, and after 4 years of walking Seattle with soggy canvas shoes, I was ready to dry out and come back to my roots in California.
Since then, I've worked with startups from bootstrapped to venture funded. I've grown software teams, helped businesses get off the ground and scale, and shipped a lot of my own projects. Along the way I've met and learned from a lot of smart people. I'm always doing my best improve my craft and ship things I'm proud of.
Outside of Work
When I'm not working I love to forget about computers for a moment and get outside or work with my hands. One of my favorite things to do it to get out camping in the Sierras with my wife. I've never had a weekend in the mountains that I didn't love.
More often I'm fixing up the house, tending to the garden, or getting out for a surf.
