This site is a continuation/soft reboot of my earlier personal site and blog, and a place to share my thoughts. I already have an "About" page, but I thought I'd provide a little more backstory here.
Software is a second career for me. I grew up alongside the Internet, and so I've always had an interest in tech, and particularly the web. However, beyond a few courses here and there, that interest never translated to any serious professional or academic commitment. Instead, I found my academic passion lay with modern literature, and I dreamed of making a difference. And so I majored in English, and went on to law school, with the full intention of a prestigious career fighting the good fight.
I enjoyed practicing law, but a funny thing happened along the way. I entered a famously conservative and stuffy profession that was struggling to evolve with the times, and the most important and interesting issues I ran into while practicing law were technical in nature. Often, these challenges engaged me in ways that law practice could not. And so, even while I practiced law, I was continually teaching myself different tech issues.
Eventually, I hit a limit of what I could achieve technically while continuing to practice as an attorney; I had to choose between law and software. I chose software, and enrolled in what was then Makersquare (which has now become Galvanize after a series of acquisitions). It was three of the most challenging, rewarding, and educational months of my life.
A big inspiration for me William Ha's Quit Law and Code. I strongly recommend his book, and not just for attorneys. While the author did practice law prior to switching over to tech, and his main emphasis is comparing legal and tech career, he offers a fairly comprehensive roadmap and plan of attack for anyone looking for guidance on getting into tech.
Having switched industries, I've found there are very natural (if non-obvious) parallels and similarities between legal practice and software development; both are analytical endeavors, and demand similar skills. The analytical similarities between law and software are rich ground, and would merit their own article, or series thereof. They’ve been been written about elsewhere — I might add my own thoughts down the line.
Anyway, that's my story. There'll be more to come, but I'm still feeling out what kind of topics I want to cover. I'd like to aim for a mix of topics, and a balance of directly technical content, personal reflections, and thoughts on larger tech trends, but we'll see.