Born in Maryland in 1974 to parents from Port Antonio and White Hill, my young and impressionable years were shaped by numerous influences, including:
- trips back to Jamaica every 2-3 years (primarily to visit family, very much not a “touristy” experience)
- public television and radio
- learning to bike ride and roller skate on concrete
- G.I. Joe
- Transformers
- the public library
- Dungeons & Dragons
- metal playground equipment that got hotter than the surface of the sun
- videogames
- science fiction
- Seventh-Day Adventist schools and churches
- MTV
- and many more
I began writing software professionally in 1996, mostly for consulting firms in the DMV (formerly known as the DC metropolitan area). Most of my work has been on Windows, using technologies from classic ASP, Visual Basic and SQL Server all the way through MVC4, C#, and RavenDB. The past 4-5 years have provided opportunities for me to delve into cloud computing (primarily AWS, but a bit of Azure too), machine learning, Java, Scala, and Python (among other languages). I consider my technology career an edge case as I’ve been one of just a few (if not the only) working as a software engineer at most of my employers.
I entered the field by way of an undergraduate degree in computer science from the University of Maryland, and returned there after six years to earn an MBA. The second degree enabled my transition into project management and tech lead roles.
My current employer has a social media policy for all employees, so I will say here that each and every post here is my personal opinion. They do not represent or reflect the views or opinions of my current or past employer in any way, shape or form.
Professional extracurricular activities include attending tech meetups, bootcamps and conferences both in my local area and elsewhere. I attended (and occasionally presented at) RockNUG before it sunsetted in May 2014. I’ve spoken to computer science undergraduates about the IT industry and taught courses in computer skills to senior citizens as a volunteer. I’m seeking opportunities to mentor youth and young adults who are under-represented in STEM disciplines.
Beyond work (when I’m not busy wrangling my twins), I enjoy travel, photography, reading, playing video games (scottlaw1 on Xbox), and music (far more listening than playing these days, since my piano competition days are well in the past).