About

My Philosophy

Everyone wants to "think outside the box" these days. It has become a common idiom for promoting creativity. I started seeing it so often it annoyed me. I've always had this idea that, if you're constantly thinking outside the box you're abandoning the box. What are you missing? Do you fully understand the constraints of the box, and the contents inside? Then, one day while browsing online I came across the post "Stop Thinking Outside the Box" and it resonated with me. 

I am a Web developer. My career focus has been on developing solutions with various content management systems in the Microsoft tech stack. My most recent area of focus has been with Episerver CMS (now Optimizely) which makes my box only one smaller one in a nest of other larger ones, like a stack of matryoshka dolls.

Instead of always trying to think outside the box, only to be bound by the next one, my philosophy is to make the most of the box I am in. Instead of constantly trying to go outside my current box, I aim to understand more about my box. After all, in today's tech world, there's a good chance that you're missing a ton of knowledge and opportunity if you are leaving your box all the time.

This blog is my outlet to share what I learn about the boxes I am in.

Me

I have been working with computers my whole life. I was fortunate to have a father enticed by the availability of computers for the average home. I grew up building and coding from an early age. I probably spent as much time learning C, Delphi, and writing Windows applications before my teen years as I did playing capture the flag and shooting BB guns. Funny enough, this is so commonplace with today's youth that it's weird to write it thinking it's something uncommon, but it was back then.

I started my career out of college working tech support for a CMS developer, Ektron, in New Hampshire, without knowing what a CMS was. Today, CMS' are my primary area of focus, having implemented dozens of small, medium, and large scale web applications on more than 7 different platforms. My current preference is Episerver CMS (recently rebranded to Optimizely), and I am enjoying the opportunities the platform has provided for me. I am currently an Optimizely MVP, and Optimizely CMS Certified Developer.

Professionally, I have worked in the Web industry for over 15 years, but have experience dating back to when DHTML was a buzzword. I am a full-stack developer with a passion for developing in both front- and back-end technologies. I'm often spending my time working with a mix of MVC, C#, Razor, CSS/Sass, Webpack, Tailwind, and various Javascript libraries. 

I also enjoy teaching people, and helping figure out problems alongside others. I assisted my C programming and HTML classes in high-school, and operated as a teaching assistant for an IT class in college. I carry that passion and drive with me in my daily career where I get to work beside a slew of talented developers on a team that loves to help each other grow. 

Privately, I live in Tennessee with my wife and kids, and I am family man and dad before all. We enjoy spending time together as a family and we do most things as such. If I am not in my office, I am probably with them.

If you made it here and read some of my articles, I hope you learned something useful. If you didn't learn anything new, though, I at least hope you enjoyed the read.