Bump - arise from the depth of the lowest post in this forum! I figured I'd post a little bit more of a personal bio here I can direct people to who ask me more about my background now and then:
My earliest experience with programming was renting a library book on Basic back in Denmark when an Amiga 500 was the closest thing to a computer I had. This was probably around 1990 or so, when I was about 10. My efforts were swiftly defeated by the fact that my Amiga 500 had a localized
Danish keyboard meaning I had no "$" symbol for the very first programming example
At this time nobody in my circle of family or friends had any experience with computers, at least not beyond playing Mario or weird Commodore 64 games, and I wouldn't have internet access for years to come, so I was stumped (although I figure now that there was probably some ASCII code I could've entered to proceed).
Fast forward to just short of 10 years later and I had finally gotten a class on some meager programming topics like Delphi while making lots of maps for Doom, Warcraft II, etc on a PC. Those were about the days I peaked in computer activity in Denmark, attending LAN parties and doing fairly well in the games of the day like Doom, Descent, Warcraft, etc. The moment FPSes introduced the unholy use of the mouse was when I sank, never to return to a competitive level in anything twitch-based, although I can usually hold my own in RTS/TBS games as long as I don't get rushed - I'm a turtle extraordinaire
A few years earlier I had also found my way online, first playing games like Diablo, Subspace, and Ultima Online. That's also where I met my wife-to-be, who was living in Orlando, Florida, at the time. I killed her brother a few times in Subspace and think that got her attention
In August 2000 I made the move to Orlando as an international student and went to Valencia Community College with my then-girlfriend for two years, earning a boring old Associate in Science degree in Computer Programming (paying international student rates is harsh! Still have the debt). We moved to an apartment in Tallahassee together and she went to Florida State while I was working remotely on small-time computer contracts. Got married, bought a house in April 2004, refinanced for better rates and to roll in my student debt a few years later at the peak of the market, and then the bubble burst and left our mortgage underwater and us thoroughly stuck here
Eventually I found a steady job in the IT department of a mid-sized insurance company and worked as a programmer, source control manager, system administrator, and helped in/with an assortment of other roles, like release management. I developed an affinity toward automation and troubleshooting obscure legacy issues. While I first signed up as a Java Developer I made the mistake to volunteer to fix a few issues in VB, then barely ever saw Java again
I never reconnected with any serious local computer activity, despite trying to start a Java User Group for a few months. So I went online instead, playing UO, then EQ, then WoW, and finally EVE Online where I found a permanent home in the harshness of space. Joined EVE University pretty quick after joining, but ended up in management and did more organizing and ship building than actual learning or even undocking. I made more corporate progress and felt more achievements from that virtual corporation than from the real one I work for
Over the years I tried on and off to get back into hobby development, but had trouble finding the time and contacts. So I just did crazy things at work instead and developed a bit of a reputation as a disruptor of the Status Quo and a bringer of baked treats (wife loves to cook). Found and played some Minecraft, then ran into jMonkeyEngine and tinkered with physics cubes and such, finally found the reference to Blockmania, met Begla, and here we are
