Curtis Lassam

Hello! My name is Curtis Lassam, and I'm a 22-year-old web developer from Vancouver. I'm currently a Computing Science student at SFU - my degree is just about done. I'm graduating soon, and I'm looking for some sort of job where I can convert money and free coffee into steaming hot piles of code.

Skills

Let's divide it up- I've built large web-projects in Python (Django), PHP, and C#. We'll leave XHTML/HTML/CSS as a given. I've worked on small one-off projects in C++, Java, and ActionScript (Flash). While I can technically program in Lisp/Haskell, I haven't yet reached the advanced plane of knowledge where I can do anything useful with them.

Javascript? Darn straight, with jQuery and Prototype/Scriptaculous. Yes, I have those things.

Databases? I've spent a lot of time working with MySQL and MS SQL Server, and a little bit of time working with PostgreSQL and Oracle.

As for version control- and any software developer worth his salt knows some form of version control- I've worked with Perforce and Subversion. I'm currently wading through some documentation on Git, because it seems like an even-more-sensible solution for the distributed, casual, open-source development that I so enjoy.

Employments

I was a Co-op student at SFU, so I had the opportunity to work at large corporations for obscene amounts of money and then leave after 4 months.

My most recent job at the Nexon studio "Humanature Studios" was recently cut short by the complete and utter dissolution of the studio. Before I was let go, I was looking at ways to use Python to pull data out of their game reporting system and display it on big color-coded charts.

Before that, it was Electronic Arts. I worked with the ORCA/BuildWorks team to build C# web tools to interface with their build database- pulling build status information out, and showing it to developers in big color-coded charts.

My job before that was at Research in Motion. I worked with the Software Tools team to build PHP web tools to interface with numerous outdated bits of human-management software- pulling data out, and showing it to managers in big color-coded charts. I also heard the "RIM job" joke roughly 8,000,000,000 times.

I've also worked as a private contractor, delivering a C#/ASP.NET intranet website for member management to the BC Notary Chapters, as well as technical advice and numerous little PHP scripts for various other clients.

Yes, the bulk of my job experience seems to be in that part of the Venn Diagram between "Data Retrieval" and "Color-Coded Charts". On top of that, it's all internal- no code samples, no way to show you any pretty charts or graphs or websites. Thus we wander into the realm of...

Projects

My most recent personal project is a script that I put together, in Python, PHP and jQuery, to log an IRC channel, and then display the logs in a readable, searchable manner. It resides at http://www.curtis.lassam.net/pierc and has a very stripped-down interface. If you'd like to see the code, it's available here.

Before that, "Chunkfunneler", a Python script that used the PyLinda libraries to distribute Python work across multiple computers. It was a project for SFU's Distributed Systems course- and while it was a learning experience, at one point or another, everybody on the team realized that what we had built was a kind-of naive MapReduce implementation.

Then there was Business Socks, a little gallery-CMS package that I was working on, but just to learn how to use jQuery, how to write a gallery, and how to integrate TinyMCE components into a website. It's since been retired.

I consistently spend time on my personal website- curtis.lassam.net- and it's currently on it's third home-made Wordpress Theme. I believe that designs should be simple and clean- that contrast should be bold and ballsy- and that constraints breed creativity. To that effect, the current theme is built entirely from a single colour, a single font, and a single logo.

There are also countless little hour-to-day-long projects, on account of my incredibly short attention span and love of The Code. None of these are worth mentioning ("A script to assign and manage silly names for blog commenters!")

In the result of my work with Antonio Pasacreta- a local restauranteur- I put together a logo and a website package for his fledgeling business, as well as a personal blog-theme for the same customer- available at chownow.ca. Unfortunately, neither site has seen much action, as the restaurant has folded due to financial considerations.

While I've done more, previous web-work, the further back in time we go, the less likely I am to want to show anybody the work that I've done.

Dreamweaver

No.

Reading Is Fun-damental

So, an awfully good way to learn about a software engineer type is to ask what he reads. And, well, I'm not sure if I can answer that. Right now I'm halfway through a book on Haskell, a different book on Flash, a book on Information Design, a book on Color Theory, Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency, A Brief History of Nearly Everything, and Effective C++.

Honestly, if I turn my neck in any direction from where I'm sitting, there's a pile of books I'm reading, queueing, or have recently read.

I keep up-to-date with:

• Coding Horror,
• Joel On Software (Although he hasn't posted anything relevant in years),
• Paul Graham (In summary, "Start your own software company. Use Lisp."),
• Steve Yegge (When I'm feeling like a good long read),
• The Daily WTF (For cheap laughs),
• and Proggit (For self-important chest pounding).

If I had to recommend some of my favourite books to others? Steve Krug's "Don't Make Me Think", Steve McConnell's " Code Complete" are the books I go back to most often.