Hello people,

My name is Casey Riley and since this is my dev blog I decided to write a little about myself.

Originally from Corvallis, Oregon, USA I have always been interested in whatever art mediums I could get my hands on and got into Web Development through my interest in digital art software such as Adobe Photoshop, Adobe Illustrator, and Zbrush.

Seeing my art people organically began to ask me to build them websites. After making a handful of websites for friends on platforms such as SquareSpace I began making friends with some very interesting Software Engineers.

Through the stories of my new friends professional journeys, I began to dream myself on a Software Engineer path, and working in an amazing culture. With a bag of new tricks I could change the world.

After much applying I got accepted to a Full Stack Software Engineer Coding Bootcamp known as App Academy. There were other bootcamps that accepted me and even offered me scholarships and grants but App Academy offered me the human connection I was looking for.

The next 9 months were intensely challenging but hard work persevered and I graduated. If it wasn’t for all the amazing teachers and students at App Academy I never could have learned at the pace I did. Pair programming five days a week with some of the most brilliant people I had ever met was transformative in the least.

Soon after graduating App Academy I started volunteering for a non-profit named Aranya Solutions. Aranya Solution’s purpose is to enrich the quality of life within targeted economically challenged and developing areas such as Nepal, Uganda and Burma. Aranya Solutions method is to assist communities to implement environmentally friendly building and agricultural methods, life skills workshops, local business development, leadership training, education initiatives, and capacity building. My commitment level was only seven hours a week because I wanted to focus on my solo projects and be able to go hard in my job hunt.

My decision to volunteer for Aranya Solutions was made a long time before I even decided to study coding. My friend Katrina Zavalney founded Aranya Solutions, and I had admired her work for many years. Finally I was able to contribute to an epic cause and I got to use my new skills.

I believe my contributions to Aranya Solutions helped us to get more frequent and larger donations.

In May 2021 I began working as a Web Developer Intern at Ecomadic. Ecomadic is a eco-tourism platform that allows for many things such as finding cheap flights, offsetting your carbon, and booking amazing experiences that don’t impact local economies in a negative way.

Under the guidance of Ecomadic’s talented lead developer Amir Goudarziha, I am learning from the best. Our tech stack is cool too! We are using ReactJS, Redux, TypeScript, Python, Django, Styled Components, Ant Design, and Storybook so far. I have had the honor of wireframing our new site in Figma as well. Everyone at Ecomadic is fun and exciting to work with. All our interactions are online but I hope to meet them in person someday.

Most of my journey since graduating in October of 2020 has been a deep dive into my solo projects. I have been hungry to learn new technologies and that is clearly visible in my portfolio. A brief glimpse at my solo projects include a user-customizable music player, a NASA image/audio gallery, a coding blog with interactive code examples, a multiple choice quiz app, and an app for finding available appointment times.

At almost every turn in life I meet a new person that has something to share about the tech world. Simply stating that I am a Software Engineer initiates stimulating conversations that tend to look at the future and contemplate our collective destiny.

What we will become and the quality of life we will share revolves around the technologies we embrace and the advancements we make. Let’s make good choices.

Thank you for reading this!

Sincerely,

Casey Riley