
Software/Web Developer
Urbana-Champaign, Illinois Area

Software/Web Developer
Urbana-Champaign, Illinois Area
I recently graduated from the University of Advancing Technology in Tempe, AZ with a B.A. in Game Design, and have been programming and working on computers since I was 11.
I have been a freelance web developer for the last decade, and have a high level of expertise with PHP, MySQL, XHTML, HTML5, CSS and JavaScript. I have developed a variety of applications using AJAX and the jQuery library. I can work in PC or Mac environments, and have experience administering Linux server environments.
A recent project of mine, “Squawk”, was a tool that bridged the virtual world Second Life with web services like Twitter and Delicious (among others.) I received a strong positive reaction from it. It was featured as one of Read/Write Web’s Top 10 Twitter Apps (#2!) and Mashable’s Top 20 Coolest Jaiku Tools. InformationWeek and Dr. Dobb’s Journal had me and a number of other popular Second Life developers speak at an in-world event on our creations, which was a very cool experience.
I’m looking to join a team that will embrace my creativity and desire for a challenge.
Design, programming, C#, C++, PHP, Perl, Lua, XHTML, HTML5, CSS, JavaScript, AJAX, jQuery, web standards, CSS, level design, writing, documentation, user experience, user interface, photoshop, illustrators, APIs, Windows, Mac OS X, Linux.
(Information Technology and Services industry)
August 1996 — Present (13 years 4 months)
I have been offering web design, programming and computer repair services under my domain moniker since 2000, and freelancing prior to that since the mid 90s. I've honed my skills over the decade I've been in business, always following the latest technologies and developments of my industry.
I've been blogging on and off since 2000, where I have been covering technology news and providing tutorials on web design, programming and working with platforms and web APIs.
(Self-Employed; Myself Only; Information Technology and Services industry)
March 2007 — August 2007 (6 months)
Nijikon Industries was the name my virtual identity Vincent Shore operated business under in Second Life. Nijikon specialized in gadgets and technologies that bridged the 3D virtual world with popular web services. Squawk was our first project, a "social aggregator" that bound Second Life to Twitter, Jaiku, del.icio.us and Ma.gnolia.
Squawk and the rest of Nijikon's assets were acquired in August 2007 by a social networking firm.
(Privately Held; 11-50 employees; Information Technology and Services industry)
2003 — 2004 (1 year )
I was a writer for the popular Lockergnome website for a period of roughly a year, reporting news and reviewing products for their Windows section.
(Privately Held; 1-10 employees; Computer Games industry)
February 2002 — May 2002 (4 months)
Briefly held a position as a news editor and web developer for gaming news site RPGDot.com. Wrote a number of backend applications for RPGDot's daily operations.
(Privately Held; 1-10 employees; Computer Games industry)
1997 — 2002 (5 years )
I was a GM (Game Master; an inworld support specialist, among other roles) with Rynet Worlds during much of it's lifetime, coordinating players and community events, developing storylines and helping answer support calls.
Rynet Worlds specialized in creating small-scale virtual worlds using open source tools; their Ultima Online servers were among the most populated on the network during their times.
(Privately Held; Newspapers industry)
2001 — 2001 (less than a year)
For roughly a year I wrote a weekly technology column for the Marco Island Sun Times, a local paper for the southern Florida island where I lived for eight years.
(Privately Held; 11-50 employees; Computer Games industry)
January 2000 — December 2001 (2 years )
I was a news editor for the popular online gaming site Stratics, first as a specialist in Ultima Online server emulation and later as a Stratics Central reporter for Myst Online: Uru Live.
(Privately Held; 51-200 employees; Information Technology and Services industry)
June 2000 — November 2000 (6 months)
Wrote a large number of internal web and desktop-based systems, as well as some functionality that still exists in the external website. During the later part of my time there, I became the lead programmer for the site and helped move the entire infrastructure from Windows NT / Internet Information Server / SQL Server to Linux / Apache / MySQL, greatly reducing downtime, overhead and licensing costs while improving site performance.
Bachelors , Game Design , 2003 — 2008
Graduated with a BA in late 2008.
Computer Science 2002 — 2003
Web development, game design, programming, technology, social networking, web 2.0, massively multiplayer games, augmented reality.
International Game Developers Association, Electronic Frontier Foundation
UAT Presidential Honor Scholarship - "Presidential Honor Scholarships are awarded to those individuals who display the ultimate academic potential as demonstrated by their performance."