TrunkOfUkuleles.github.io
Where I’ve Been
I came to programming in a roundabout way. Came out of college armed with an Asian Studies degree, and ended up as a Social Media Marketing Manager. After tripling the size of my department, I took a break freelanmcing while I decidied what I wanted to do outside of the Social Media ‘Sphere’. This was the first time I started looking at coding seriously. In my freelance projects I ended up having to update websites, web stores and even launch amazon store pages. My experience coding a little in python (and living with working computer science majors) made it far momre familiar than I was expecteing.
From there I took a (slight) left turn into B2B industrial packaging equipment sales. My background in Japanese culture (and my time there) made me a good candidate for a Japanese company launching a new California branch to serve the west coast. This was a lot less directly technical, but did teach me how to apprach understanding a field I have not touched before. I had to quicdkly grasp the capabilities of our products, and the needs of our target market. I had to learn how to translate the actual needs between customers/opperators and our support staff back in Japan. I ended up gowing our US market share of our equipment by about 8%. While I eventually found a certain pride in the work, it was not what I wanted to do the rest of my life.
Coming from that more customer facing, but still technical field, I transitioned into software development. I dove into fullstack to start to explore the ways our technology can help aid in communication - and my troubleshooting days showing me some ways that technology can still do better.
My Approach
Coming from a non-traditional background, I try and leverage the strengths I have built to better drive my code. I keep in mind the ideal of the product for the customer. What they would want, and how it would be served to them. That sort of forethought is what made me such a good fit for fullstack development. The independence afforded me as a salesman taught me to be self sufficient and look for creative solutions, but my time managing a team helped inform my need to keep a team updated and informed as we progress.
Looking for
I am looking for fulltime employment (who isn’t these days) in Los Angeles or remote.
🔭 I’m currently working on
- React Native
- Wix customization