A new look, feel, and new direction

Hey All!

I have a new look and feel using a SuperNova theme (thanks Sayed).  I am working on creating more content that is often asked for.  I feel that there are so many development blogs out there, that I am thinking of focusing on a bigger topics.  The career path of a developer, the politics of corporations, navigating the day-to-day, and skills that are often over-looked and harder to teach.  I think any developer who has a strong foundation can pick up any language/framework.  Of course there is a learning curve, but it is a well-defined path... It often goes like this:

• Figure out what you want to accomplish (new site, new app, etc...)
• Pick the language you want to do it in (.Net, Java, Objective C)
• Create a sandbox/prototype... Google tutorials, languages, etc...
• Clean it up and make it maintainable (Source Control, Comments, Refactor)
• Ship it.

However, for more career oriented tasks the path is not always so clear... Should I take this new job?  Do I want to be a contractor?  What are the real benefits of working full-time for a corporation?  Do I want to move into management?  How can I grow in my career even though I don't want to be a manager?   How do I move from my full-time job into a freelance job?

Those questions are much tougher to decide and are dependent on MANY factors.  Each case is different and full-time isn't for everyone, and contracting may not be what you want, and I know freelancing sounds amazing, but it has several side-issues that are often not discussed.

I was reviewing many of my posts over the years and realized I have a lot of random content, and I went back through the Codex of WordPress and forgot some basic steps, which is why I am moving in a new direction:

First steps with WordPress has a great guide to get started here.  I forgot on why I started writing this.  I was originally using this as a place to just document things that I wanted to go back and read at a later date.  However, it turns out other people wanted to read it too.  I started getting a few people writing comments and asking questions.  Well, I have done my best to keep up with those comments and feedback, and what I have realized is I need to re-focus on what I want to share and write about.

Don't get me wrong, I will still talk occasionally about CrossFit, Coding, and new technologies that come out.  But I want to explore the process that I have encountered, what works, what doesn't, and what reality is in the world of tech corporations.   I am not an expert, I am not a guru.  I am simply a developer who has been around a while and worked several places, from SAP to Microsoft to Getty Images.  I ran a small consulting firm, worked as a freelancer for a few years, and was a teacher at a local college.  I am not sure if that qualifies me to do anything special, but it is the web, and anyone can write what they want. :-)

Thanks for stopping by and let's get excited about the next phase of this blog.