HTML / CSS / JAVASCRIPT / PHP / TAILWIND / WORDPRESS / APIS
I remember the day my fifth grade teacher told us about exciting new technology coming out called the “world wide web”. I was immediately intrigued. He said it was going to change the way the world communicates and connect all of us. Not long after, everyone in our neighborhood received a CD in the mail to connect to the world wide web with America Online. The rest is history. And yes, I am that old.
Build It
I learned about HTML and CSS and Javascript code and thought it was terribly fascinating. I took development classes at my local college, dove head first into it and fell in love. Its exciting and frustrating and challenging and rewarding. Its a continual search for answers to changing problems. Learning is part of the job. It requires someone who does not give up easily. When something isn’t working or you need to learn how to do something, you are now on the hunt. When you find the solution you get the thrill of solving the problem and getting it to work. (victory dance ensues)
Intern to Lead Developer
My experience began as an intern at Clocktower Media in Kirkland as a web developer, and was hired on full time after the internship ended. I would slice Photoshop design files and write the code to turn it into a working site. HTML, CSS, Javascript on the front-end, and Coldfusion or PHP on the backend. We used our own internal framework for creating content management systems, and custom built solutions for our clients based upon their needs. The first step in building out the backend was establishing business requirements of the client, designing and building the database (MySQL), and building out the backend content management system. I started off doing mostly front-end work, but after a year or so and our team expanded, I primarily worked on building back end systems in the LAMP stack. I was promoted to lead developer after three years and worked with a team building fun and rewarding projects.
Working at an agency for five years gave me the opportunity to work on hundreds of different websites, ranging from small updates to full fledged web applications.
