About

My name is John Atten, and this is the “About Me” stuff…

I am a self-taught student of programming and software development, and I spend way too much time and money pursuing this interest. My friends and family are concerned for my well-being.

In August of 2015 I accepted a position as a professional developer with a startup in Denver, Colorado, USA. So now I get paid to do what I would have been doing anyway, for free.

I spend most of my free time working on building my skillset, contributing to Open Source projects, and trying to learn as much as I can. There have been many good people who have assited me in learning this craft, and I try to pay that forward by helping others who may be newer than I.

  • I am a consummate nerd – I love computers, programming, technical and non-technical topics. I love writing about such things. This web log is a forum for,  and easily accessed online repository for my material. An idea which I stole from Scott Hanselman on is that the blog gives me a central reference point for concepts and ideas, obviating the need to type them over and over again in email, etc. I can simply point the interested party at the appropriate blog entry. A clearing house for my thinking and writing, if you will.
  • The best way to learn is to teach – I benefit in many ways from laying out what I think I know. The areas in which I am weak, but maybe did not realize it, become abundantly clear when attempting to explain things in writing. Especially when one can make no assumptions about the reader’s familiarity with the topic.
  • Passing it on/Paying it forward, etc. – I have benefitted in massive ways from the work of those who took the time to share their know-how on the internet. From various bloggers to programming forums, to the now ubiquitous Stack Overflow, I have, in Borg-like fashion, assimilated the experience and college education of some of the biggest (and not so big) names in the technology arena. Shamelessly!

When I’m not writing code, I tend to be playing music (my other passion), exploring my surroundings, and doing my best to experience life beyond the code editor.

I blog here about things that interest me, things I’m working on, and generally document my learning process.