What I do

Application Development

The core of my work and what I enjoy most is development of custom applications. For web development I am currently working mostly with Ruby and Rails, and JQuery for AJAX/DHTML. I am interested in working with other web technologies as well, like GWT and Google's App Engine. But I also have interest beyond the web, and I would love to work on a project involving Google's Android platform, among others.

Testing and Quality Assurance

In my opinion the job positions of software engineer and QA engineer should be one in the same. Quality assurance should be an integral part of the process of developing software, and I put huge amounts of effort and consideration into making great testing suites, which I automate with technologies such as CruiseControl. I am also looking to integrate Selenium into my automated testing suite as well.

Server Setup/Deployment/Monitoring/Maintenance

I set up server instances (Ubuntu Linux is my current server of choice) fully, set up automated deployment mechanisms (made easy with technologies such as Capistrano). I set up all my applications to send email notifications whenever an error occurs, such that I can attend to it quickly. I keep organized regarding getting the information I need and filtering out the noise when it comes to ensuring that production servers are up and healthy.

Security

Security is very important to me. I ensure servers are secured with firewalls such as iptables and block all but essential network traffic. I manage all user access and restrictions to production servers. For web security I protect against cross-site scripting and database SQL injection, and I use an SSL-encrypted connection for any sensitive information being passed across the wire.

Intangibles

My approach to how I do my job is that of openness. I enjoy sharing knowledge and helping advance technology as part of the community. I will often go out of my way for a chance to either learn or teach. I also intend to share knowledge through my blog.

Creative freedom is another key to how I work. I understand that technology evolves, and I see myself as a part of that. I think independently and have strong opinions about technology. And I trust my judgement.

Finally, I'm principaled. I build real systems and I know what it takes to get there.

Design/Branding

To be honest, I'm not talking about myself (my design skills are still a work in progress). But I have a close relationship with a great group of designers in Barrel, and can team up to produce full products with startling results.