- ABOUT
- SOFTWARE
- GAMEDEV
- VISUAL ART
- MUSIC
I'm a software engineer based in Denver. I ❤ nature and art.
I'm a software engineer based in Denver, Colorado. I've been helping build Codespaces at GitHub since 2020. They're quite powerful, check them out!
From 2015 to 2020, I worked as a product dev with Custora and Amperity, working on platforms for ecommerce data and predictive insights. I had previously taught myself the basics of programming and studied how to apply it at a webdev bootcamp.
Before that, I worked in avian field biology and leading outdoor programming for adults with developmental disabilities.
In 2012 I graduated from Bowdoin College in my home state of Maine, where I studied biology and spent a lot of time researching an amphibious fish.
I spend most of my spare time these days getting outdoors in Colorado, whether that's birding in the Denver area, skiing, or hiking. Indoors, I'm playing the guitar and developing computer games about ecology and evolution.
Education and experience
As a full-stack engineer, I thrive most when working to improve a product from a variety of angles— whether that's , or connecting it all in a web framework. I especially love Ruby & Rails.
I consider myself a full-stack generalist by trade— I thrive most when working to improve a product from a variety of angles. I've enjoyed collaborating with designers to build polished frontend interfaces, teaming with infrastructure engineers to wrangle data in distributed systems, and hooking it all together with web frameworks. I'm particularly fond of the expressiveness of Ruby and the development philosophy of Rails.
As far as hobby projects go, I mostly stick to creative pursuits rather than tools or libraries. Below are a couple older projects, currently unhosted, that use public data on bird populations for learning experiences. Feel free to check out my GitHub profile for other coding projects.
Ruby on Rails & Backbone.js
Chickadee is a quiz-based learning tool for identifying birds by their songs.
Chickadee harnesses avian demographic data collected by citizen scientists from the Cornell Lab of Ornithology's eBird database, assembling quizzes and detailed information using audio recordings from Xeno-canto's library, photos from Flickr, and detailed descriptions from Wikipedia. Chickadee allows users to custom-tailor their experience, studying birds from their regions of choice— at national, state/provincial, and local/county levels.
Python & Flask
Lightweight, single-page web app that finds the most recent
reports of owls in North America.
Gamedev
I've always enjoyed games, particularly strategy games. After trying to make a board game in 2014, I realized I wanted complex mechanics that were best tracked on the computer, to allow the player to focus on things besides counting and math.
Starting from total ignorance, I made the beginnings of a game using Ruby and Gosu. Realizing I was reinventing the wheel as I defined things like "clickable rectangle" for the GUI, I dove into learning more powerful game engines. After a brief stint with Unity (and frustration with it being closed-source) I found my home with the Godot Engine, which I've been tinkering with for about 5 years now.
Lately that's been an action RPG oriented around birding. I also have a long-running nemesis project that I started in 2016, a grand-strategy game oriented around evolution. For now, keep an eye on my Twitter feed for when I've got a playable demo ready :)
Also check out this janky little browser game from 2015.
Bird PhotographyI'm taking photos in nature all the time, but I don't enjoy the curation and file management. Photos uploaded to eBird run from low-res proof of a species to higher quality, composed shots.
CollageIt's fun to decompose the source material & make it your own. Click for fullsize.
MEETING NEAR THE COVE (2015)28" x 18" paper collage on an old microwave box.
SHINING GLEN (2016)14" by 11" paper collage derived from a series of works by oil painter Jim Hansel.
UNTITLED (2019)Oil PaintingsTotal amateur here trying to use up the paint. Click for fullsize.
VERNAL SALVO (2021)32" by 36"-ish oil on canvas. Aimless multi-year garage project.
SEASON'S TREE (2018)20" by 30" collage & oil on foamboard. Special thanks to Tim Farley.
EMMA (2017)16" by 20" oil on canvas. Pretty lady I hang out with.
UNTITLED (2017)16" by 20" oil on canvas. First crack at an oil painting.
Digital MediaGrab bag of things done mixing photography, drawing, software, etc. Click for fullsize.
BEER LABELS (2013-2018)
Made for various homebrews cooked up with friends over the years. Dawn of Time was the best beer itself IMO.
INTENTION FLOWER (2018)Colorized an old ink drawing from back in 2014.
AUDUBON GONE WRONG (2014)
Digitally-unnaturalized bird photography. Series of eight 8" x 10"-ish prints, with photos taken in Maine, Idaho, and Costa Rica. Sold some off at the First Friday art walk in Portland.
Visual ArtExperiments from time to time in various media.
- COLLAGE →
Music
Still playing regularly but haven't recorded or produced in years. Everything I have is on SoundCloud, mainly guitars + tinkering in Ableton.
Coming Soon!
I'll port over the blog content from my old site when I get the chance.
