📜About Me

created 10-03-2024

I started my journey in software development while still in the military as a productive way to spend my free time when I wasn't at the gym. As my contract came closer towards its end, I stumbled upon a program that would allow me to gain the fundamental knowledge needed for software development (MSSA) while setting me up to transition into a college education. I completed the 18 week course and gained a certificate along with a few college credits and immediately enrolled in the University of North Carolina @ Wilmington. While attending college my life became nothing but learning everything I could about softwrae development. While completing all of my standard University credits I spent every last bit of my free time writting software, reading about technology as a whole, and working in the field. The first job that I acquired out of the military was working as a freelance developer, on contract, at an agency that allowed me the flexability and freedom to continue my education. This allowed me an easy transition to get familiar with working with customers and businesses once again and also began to put my skills to the test. Although it wasn't software intensive, it required utilizing alot of the skills I gained in the army (time-management, organization, prioritization, etc).

From there I continued my education into its second year, I got a new job as a customer service representative at a Uhaul Operations Facility, working within their application. Here I gained appreciation for enterprise level software and the complexity behind managing the everyday tasks that it needs to complete. I left this position for an increase in pay and the ability to gain first hand experience in managing a business at a flooring company. Preflooring Solutions is a flooring distributor that manages their business through a very large Ecommerce Site and ships products nation wide. I started working here as the Sales and Website manager where my everyday task was to ensure the operation of the site was running smoothly, take care of all sales through the website and over the phone, ship all orders that came in through the website, ensure new products were updated. Here I gained experience working as a backbone for a business, knowing that the everyday operation of the business was up to me, there wasn't an option to miss a day and I gained a better appreciation for what it takes to run your own company.

My first "real" software job happened while I was at this company. Vantaca LLC (a form of fintech startup company) was in need of a new Software Support Developer to utilize SQL to fix issues within their application. This was a large scale enterprise level software that required me to get familiar with tools like Asana and Zendesk and allowed me to gain a better understanding of iterative improvement of software and dealing with feature release and hotfixes to keep the company moving in the right direction. This position allowed me to gain the knowledge of what it takes to create enterprise level software and the complexities behind it along with its nuances.

A few life events resulted in me uprooting my life and moving back to my home state of Florida. Here I began working a few standard labor jobs, finding myself missing the physicality of Army life and wanting to take a break from software for a bit. This was short lived due to my previous experience and I soon decided to venture out on my own.

2022 came around and I decided to start my own company (Altom Landscaping LLC) I figured my appreciation for running your own business should be put to the test. I started out with virtually no money to work from, most of it being spent on the formation documents and the bit off equipment I could afford. Through the next year I gathered customers and gained a new appreciation for hard manual labor in benefit for someone else. Although my company isn't necssarily a success in terms of profit, I established the foundation for it needed to be able to move forward with it if needed.

While running Altom Landscaping LLC, I also put alot of focus into pursuing my passion for bodybuilding. The freedom and flexability of running my own company allowed me to focus in this area like never before and I've found myself progressing well through the sport. Despite a few set backs this area of my life is going well and I hope to be in competition at a high level in my early 30's. My career in bodybuilding lead me to getting several certifications in personal training through ISSA that I have yet to utlize but plan to as a way to earn side income and still be productive while not working on software.

Software never left my life during this time and as of current I have transitioned back into the full-time software developer that I once was. My previous work experience along with my own experience running a business is something I believe would be an asset to a software company and I plan on transitioning my entreprenuerial skills towards freelance software and technological work on my own time. As I find myself getting older, I'm beggining to find more complex work in software appealing, in the form of data science, ML/AI, and quantum within molecule simulation and material science.

From here the story is to be continued...

Favorite Books:

• George Oswell's 1984

• Permutation City by Greg Egan

• Great Expectations by Charles Dickens

A few Hobbies:

• Fishing

• Guitar

• Fixing Things

• Self Education

• Fitness

Feel free to reach out to me through my social channels or through my website for any business inquires. Thank you for your time.