In Lieu of a Cover Letter
Assuming that you're visiting my site as a prospective client or employer, it is probably prudent that you know a few things about me.
I graduated a little over six years ago from Penn State with a degree in Systems Design and Development from their brand-spanking-new School of Information Sciences and Technology (literally the first graduating class). The courseload was a catch-all for technology and business, so it gave me an understanding of every phase of a software deployment. I planned, I designed, I coded, I worked in team settings. I drank, I partied, I broke cement bricks with my elbow.
All pretty normal, really.
Coming out of school, I landed a job as a Business Analyst designing software at UBS Financial Services. Like my major, that job tite was a bit of a catch-all for the business side of software development within the firm, as a BA there puts on the great Many Hat and serves as a requirements writer, interface designer, QA tester, project manager... you name it. By the end of my five years there I had progressed to Associate Director, and had wielded my new title to the tune of managing experimental pilot projects and gaining a larger role in product definition. I was like the Pied Piper, only instead of marching rats out of town, he led lemmings away from a trip to the cliff's edge.
Onward and Upward
Since I left UBS and New York City for the drier, browner pastures of Southern California in May of '09 I've been rebuilding my foundation in the graphic arts at UCLA Extension. As a Design Communication Arts certificate candidate, I've worked extensively with the Adobe Creative Suite, learned the ins and outs of communicating visually (images, logo, type, and the resonance therein), and spent a lot of time staring at an LCD while wishing I could justify dropping $1000 on one of those LED-backlit jobs.
Above all else, what my coursework has given me is a refreshed view on my work and my career and an increased vocabulary that will enable me to work more effectively in a more public-facing arena. Not to mention it has been a wonderful excuse to blow hours on end crafting things that I can be as proud of visually as I was technically.
That's all, for now
If you've read this far and would like to contact me, you can click here. If you've read this far and would not like to contact me, click here instead.