Jason Streetz
"Profession?"
It's hard to picture myself as a "professional" anything.
But if I had to, I guess I'd use a resume to do it (sigh).
I'm usually paid to write programs for computers. Websites, databases, tools, or whole applications. It's all the same to me : pure, creative fun! They say if you love what you do, you never work a day in your life; I'm fortunate in being able to say I've only "worked" a small fraction of my life by that measure.
Aside from playing with computers in the sense of programming, I've played at them to accomplish some desktop publishing for hire. For a few years, I worked as an editor on Electronic Gaming Monthly and its sister publication EGM2.
Sure, if you count my accidental accumulation of terminology and practices present in the "professional" world of computer science, and that my personal approach to "playing" with computers is actually a creatively serious effort to get something done with them (and done right), then to that extent, I might be mistaken for a "professional".
I don't have any formal training with computers. Most of what I learned I taught myself trying to make software to run my made-up roleplaying game, Paradoxia.
To me, the only difference between "playing" with computers at work or for fun is what I happen to be programming them to do.
For work, I've had to make kiosk applications, websites, data processing systems, and other boring things like that.
For fun, I program at whatever has captivated my interest at the moment, usually some half-begotten idea or triviality.
In either case, I'm serious about getting it done right.
What's "right" in programming? (Here I offer the most informal dabbling of personal opinions in a field of what has become a serious subject among software "professionals")
For me, its tough to formally line up all the things that make a program "right" or not here and now.
I tend to think of programming in terms of a creative task, not as a subject of study itself.
Thankfully, others have written whole books on the subject.
To me, it just "feels" right, or it doesnt, based on one or more of the preceding observations, even though I am aware that the subject can be broken down more concretely than that.
Maybe my personality has something to do with the strange tug-of-war between "gut" and "thought" views on programming I have.
Througout the course of my employment, I served in no less than three distict capacities under 4 different titles as my employment there wore on.
I was hired as a "graphics guy", swinging in from my previous job with Electronic Gaming Monthly.
They soon discovered that I could program, so I got included among their software developers.
On that team, as a "Consultant" I helped build and deploy technology conference kiosk software. Clients like Microsoft TechEd, IBM Lotusphere, CMP Media, and so on. We built apps to replace the Windows shell in order to present a controlled desktop that provided on-site agenda, exhibitor floor, and attendee networking services. For certain shows, our kiosks also provided a demonstration/hands-on experience with cutting-edge software applications by our clients. That was fun for a few years, by the end of which I was "Senior Consultant".
Then the company shut down that line of business and I shifted to an internal IT position as "Application Technologist". There I did general IT projects to support the corporate departments, here and there dabbling back out into consulting for clients. Most interestingly, I built various internal applications, architected a corporate intranet, and developed the corporate public website.
Before that company went under, I made a flattened capture of the website for the owner. I have it alive here on my site now, as well. Just for kicks.
A close-up of my final desk at Lante
A goofy tribute image I doctored up of myself and my team
All told, Lante was my first real direct exposure to "professional" programming. Beyond the buzzwords and new technologies, working at Lante advanced my growth of discipline and "professional" practice faster than I could have done through my own personal projects.
When Lante was bought out, I quit.
That was right around the time of the tech-bubble pop, so I found myself out of work for a while. It was bliss. I returned to my roots, worked on projects of my own making on my own time and found center. Financial realities what they were, I eventually went looking for a job and, eventually (read: 10 months later), found one.
Now I work for another company doing essentially a continuation of what I did before -- programming increasingly bigger things.