Finally - Another post!

As you have all probably noticed, my posting has been spotty at best recently. That isn't to say that things aren't going on in my life. In fact, there are multiple things that have happened recently that are on my mind quite a bit, however they involve other people in ways such that I just don't feel like it is my place to share them with the world. Also, when I do have something to share about, I'm usually too lazy to actually write it up and post it.

For the sake of sharing something, however, I'll share a bit about work. In particular ways that I have been growing as a software developer and that they have been trusting me with more responsibility. I apologize in advance if this comes of as bragging (or as boring). Really I'm just trying to share things that have been exciting for me.

Toyon hires a lot of engineers and scientists, and many of them spend a substantial amount of their time writing code, even though many of us have little formal training in writing code. Since starting at Toyon, my ability as a C++ programmer (a language I never used in school) has grown immensely, largely because some of the experienced developers have put a lot of time and effort into helping me learn good coding techniques.

A few months ago I was set up with an account on our Linux cluster and started learning to use Linux, purely on the command line. I've always wanted to learn Linux, but I never got that good doing it on my own as a personal project. The more I used it at work, the better I got with it, and the more I liked it.

Side note: As a result of my growing Linux knowledge, I am now using Ubuntu Linux as my primary operating system at home. It is a Linux distribution aimed at ease of use, and I think that they are coming close to having an operating system every bit as easy to use as Windows. If you've ever wanted to give Linux a try, but are intimidated, I highly recommend giving this one a try.

Back to talking about Linux at work. I soon found that I was using it more than Windows at work (granted I was actually running Windows XP, but ssh-ing into a Linux server). I soon decided to just install a dual boot with Linux on my work system. I still need Windows around for some of my work, so unfortunately I cannot ditch it all together. Instead of installing Ubuntu on my work computer, a coworker helped me install Gentoo Linux. This distribution is not known for being easy to use, but with his promise of help, I decided it was a good time to learn. I can say hands down that Ubuntu would have been easier and, as a result, probably more functional, but I really enjoy the tinkering aspect of it and actually having to configure many details of my system. There are now days at work where I can go the whole day without having to touch Windows.

In addition, one of the head developers has been throwing around the phrase "power developer" with regards to me recently. I'm not quite there yet, but I'm well on my way. A few weeks ago he even trusted me enough to give me access to commit changes to any file in a very large section of our code base - basically every piece of code that I currently use, directly or indirectly. Only a handful of people in the whole company have that level of access. Anyway, I'm quite proud to be trusted with that level of power, and it was really an encouragement to me as an employee.

So in short, I'm on my way to becoming a Linux guru, a C++ guru, and a valuable employee.