Finally I'm building in public!
Hello, I'm Josh! I am finally deciding to build in public, and I figured my portfolio site would be the best place for me to do so. I guess I'll introduce myself, talk a little bit about what I've built briefly, my background, and what I am aiming to do going forward.
Where I started
So I have always been a bit of a nerd. I grew up loving Star Trek and Star Wars, I learned to build my own computer, and would always find a way around any blocks I'd find in front of me. I ended up being the live-in tech support person for my entire family, and our extended family. Anytime something was needed I had to figure it out, and when I was 18, I transitioned my father's dental office from paper charts and traditional x-rays, to a fully digital office with x-rays and intra-oral cameras.
As a teen, I was the one that had a live journal (and a dead journal in typical Gemini fashion), a fully customized Myspace page built in Photoshop, and was on the "tech crew" at school and religious events running the lighting and sound boards, and doing set up and tear downs. Technology is something I have always loved because it helps us to expand our abilities, while sometimes we use it as an extension of our physical selves, we can also utilize it as an extension of our minds as well. Even in elementary school, I would use different search engines, check my sources, and research so many different topics, both for school and for fun. I had bookmarks for HotBot, Lycos, Excite, Alta-Vista, Yahoo!, and a few others. Surprisingly, I did not enjoy AOL, just AIM.
In my adulthood after working with my dad and managing his office, and being onsite IT for him (I later learned how much money he saved not having to have an IT company), I taught myself how to build android apps utilizing a tool called Buzz Touch, and from there I just kept learning and experimenting with what I could do.
Where I am now
Now, I am working as a contractor with Autonomous Vehicles, as well as running my agency Utopian Creations which owns LezFindr, and I have worked with numerous clients like Neesh.art, RavenscroftDesign.com, MoffattRanchBrentwood.com, FriendswithBeneditcspopup.com and others. I am looking for a more stable position to replace my contractor work that will more align with my talents and portfolio.
In addition to that boring stuff, I am also working on starting the Queerpreneur Collective, which will be free resources and meet ups for queer founders that are looking to learn how to use AI the right way to build their businesses from idea to launched. I personally love to help others, but find it hard to find ways to give back on my own. This new venture I am making, will be something I can dedicate a few hours a week to, and will focus mostly around helping queer founders.
Well, that's enough for my first introduction blog post to a little bit about me, I'll post more as I go along!