webdevjeff.us

In February, 2016, I became a graduate of the Dev Bootcamp web development immersive program. Over the course of about five months—half remote, half on-campus in New York City's financial district—my classmates and I became full-stack web developers, skilled in Ruby, Ruby on Rails, and Sinatra; Javascript and jQuery; HTML5 and CSS3; as well as a wide array of related tools and libraries. But even more important, we learned to learn new technology efficiently and effectively, and become able to apply it meaningfully in hours or days, rather than weeks or months.

In addition to technical skills, DBC's program also includes an extensive curriculum it calls Engineering Empathy, which covers "soft-skill" topics ranging from self-awareness to group dynamics, from communication to diversity. DBC graduates are well-prepared to collaborate, to offer and accept useful feedback, and to navigate difficult conversations productively. Software development is a team sport these days, and it's going to be dominated by developers who know how to be team players.

In the years before Dev Bootcamp, I've worked as a teacher, a photographer, a writer and editor, and even as a game designer. Throughout my career, all of my work has revolved around creative communication and problem-solving, and I'm excited to bring that background to the internet as a web developer.

I've lived and worked in Austin, TX, San Mateo, CA, and Phoenix, AZ, but for the past two decades, I've been in New York City. I settled in historic City Island, the Bronx — New York City's maritime community — in 2007, with my wife and daughter.