My name is Jacob, and I've been working with various aspects of website development for over 20 years now. I started out with just the basic HTML/CSS, then added Javascript, and then got into PHP/MySQL about 16 years ago.
I originally worked freelance for clients around the US while based out of Athens, GA, then moved back home to Miami for a while. Then I got tired of the hurricanes after the onslaught that was the 2005 hurricane season, and moved to western Washington state just in time to watch the Seahawks lose their first Super Bowl (literally my first day here). Having grown up with the Miami Dolphins, however, I was used to watching teams lose, so I did not let that dissuade me from staying around, and have been here ever since. (I have, however, largely given up on American football, though.)
These days I split my time both as a Senior Developer and IT/Systems Management for a small firm just north of Seattle, Washington. I'll have been with this organization for 10 years in January of 2022.
During my development life, I've seen just about everything cross my monitor, from WordPress to OSCommerce to CSCart, Drupal, CakePHP, complete custom frameworks (including a few I built myself from the ground up), and a lot I don't even remember anymore. I've worked with the LAMP, WIMP, and WAMP stacks, and a few weird hybrids like PHP/MSSQL and even Python/Google Cloud SQL back in the day. My CSS is a bit rusty, as I focus typically on backend development and integration, but my Javascript is still top notch, although I'm not as familiar with Node and React as I'd like to be.
On the IT side of things, I administer the network and devices in the office, handle a lot of the SysAdmin responsibilities for internal and client servers, provide IT support to an office of developers and web designers (and the occasional client), and also provide IT consultancy services to various clients. Over the years, I've done everything from troubleshooting and setting up small home wireless networks to setup computers and networks for large schools, troubleshooting printers to POS systems, walked people through simple tasks like connecting to a wireless network for the first time to providing guidance on setting up VPNs and remote access.
If you have an IT related or development related question large or small, I can probably give you a reasonable, knowledge-backed answer — or at least point you in the right direction for obtaining one.
Aside from my considerable experience from decades of work in the field, I attended Everett Community College in Everett, WA, where I got an Associate in Computer Information Systems and a certificate in Networking. (Fun side story: I also taught the Linux portion of the Intro to Operating Systems class I took.)
Outside of the #devlife, I'm just a guy with interests in soccer (I'm currently a season ticket holder for the Seattle Sounders), music (play Trombone, formerly Bass Trombone and Euphonium, and tinker occasionally with composition), food (decent cook with emphasis on Miami style Latin food and Italian), the outdoors, and international relations/current events. Been happily married since 2009, and I have 17 nieces and nephews I enjoy doing fun activities with, and at least one more on the way.