For work, I am an IT automation engineer, specializing in Ansible and Python to automate storage arrays. I just began working as an automation engineer in 2023. Prior to that I was a mechanical engineer working in research and development departments for various companies/industries. I have around 15 patents to my name. While I was successful in the field of mechanical engineer, I was just more passionate about programming. Even as a mechanical engineer, I took on responsibilities like CAD/PDM administration, and writing scripts to automate related tasks.
Outside of work, I have a passion for using and contributing to open source software. My favorite home lab project is Plex. While it is not open source, it has been the single biggest motivator for me to learn programming. Initially, by writing scripts to automate various tasks related to Plex, and then by developing plugins and tools for Plex. I’ve been using Plex since 2013 or so, and with that said I’ve been a bit disappointed with the direction the project has taken in recent years. Due to that I’ve been getting started with developing plugins for Jellyfin, although I have not personally used it outside of development, yet.
I also enjoy playing video games. I’ve mostly been a console gamer throughout my life, while still enjoying the occasional PC game. I got started playing video games on the NES. Since the original Xbox was released, I’ve been gaming exclusively on Xbox consoles. I still own an original Xbox, an Xbox 360 Elite, and Xbox One X. Each of these has also been modified in one way or another. While I’ve enjoyed gaming a lot over the years, I’ve not played that much since I started my programming journey. I’m hoping to get back into it more in the future, and possibly combine the two by developing a video game.
Most of my open source projects, are related to gaming and/or Plex. They are mostly under the LizardByte organization on GitHub. If you’re interested in learning more about our projects, check out the GitHub organization page above or our website.