About Me
I come to web development and software architecture from a unique perspective. Part of it is being a graduate of the UT Austin Linguistics Department Master's program. Part is leading-edge practice in PHP web development and an ambition for learning new skills as they avail themselves. As a Zend Certified Engineer, with certifications in PHP5 as well as the Zend Framework, I am one of less than 1,000 dually-certified ZCEs with such a combination. I am also a Certified MySQL Associate.
I work with PHP and the Zend Framework on a daily basis. I am a big believer in implementing cutting-edge technologies to make an excellent product for real web enthusiasts. Using high-quality, standards-compliant technologies rewards better informed users who are more likely to become repeat customers and product evangelists. I'm also a search expert, with experience deploying Zend_Search_Lucene and Apache Solr along with an academic background in machine learning and natural language processing.
My past roles include Computational Linguist at Apogee Search (see my old Apogee blog posts here) and Web Developer at Vertive, Inc -- Publisher of Offers.com. These two roles alone represent experience from both ends of the spectrum representing pure research to pure implementation with respect to web applications and NLP.
My academic background includes several several papers, a teaching assistantship, and a research assistantship founded by the NSF. My master's thesis, which stems from this work, is also available in the papers section.
I'm a big foodie, and when I'm not trying a new restaurant with my wife, Kayleigh, I'm trying a new recipe at home. We also try to explore new places (be it a new country or a new hiking trail) whenever the opportunity arises. I am a big fan of living life to its fullest, learning new ideas and perspectives, and using my cooler whenever I can.
