About Me
TL;DR
My name is Justin! 👋 I am a hobbyist and freelancing Full Stack Developer using Next.js & TypeScript who designs games sometimes. 😎
Currently: Learning anything and everything I can about supporting scalable server applications and gorgeous frontends!
💼 Almost 8 years working in IT!
💻 Full Stack (Next.js/Typescript/Mantine)
🎓 B.S. in Cybersecurity & Information Assurance
🎗️ Multiple IT certifications and skillsets.
🕹️ Founded a local game design studio in Dallas, TX.
I'm open to full stack, fully remote positions! Please get in contact.
Justin Carver
Jack of Most IT Trades / Master of Perpetual Learning
Career Overview
My name is Justin Carver. I'm 26, and I absolutely love technology, software development, video games, and being creative. I'm a full-time IT professional that spends his afternoons learning Full Stack Development in the hopes of transitioning to a remote developer someday soon. 👨💻
I've worked in the Information Technology sector for 8 years now in various enterprise capacities for multiple full-scale organizations. I started out as a help desk associate and trained under the wing of many great systems administrators and network engineers, learning the ins-and-outs of enterprise IT, communication, and triaging. It was here that the seed of enveloping myself in IT-related occupations would lead to where I am today.
Once I got a better footing, I was then promoted into a more senior technical analyst role, where I spent a lot of my time learning more about advanced computing topics, information security, networking, and my first small foray into programming. During this point (around 2013-2014), I was spending my free time learning the basics of HTML and CSS using static files. You can imagine what it was like for me to take a break for a couple of years and come back to React, TypeScript, Next.js, etc. It's been interesting acclimating in today's webdev world...
Early in my career, I spent a lot of time learning about which certifications would benefit me in the long run and what I wanted for my career. I ultimately decided to get my first IT cert, in a field I was interested in: the CompTIA Security+ certification, which fueled the inspiration for majoring in Cybersecurity later on in my career.
I left that job to work as an Audio/Visual Specialist for a large central Texas university for a couple of years. While there, I was pretty stagnant in my career prospects. It was during this time that I fell in love with Game Development, and spent a lot of time learning general game development and design, learning game engines like: Unity3D alongside C#, UnrealEngine alongside C++, or implementing my own custom engines and renderers. I owe game development a lot to my current knowledge of programming.
I then decided to move to Dallas where I'm currently employed with a large healthcare system that supports the DFW region. Shortly upon arriving in our new city, I signed paperwork to create an LLC. and founded a local game design studio to make and publish my future games with. (More on this later! 😉) Since moving to Dallas, my career prospects of course have certainly increased. A couple of years ago, I received my degree in Cybersecurity and Information Assurance. On top of the Security+, I have successfully obtained many other industry-standard IT certifications, such as: CompTIA CySA+, CompTIA Net+, ITIL, SSCP, EC-Council Certified Encryption Specialist, and many more.
Over the course of my career and the time I spent climbing the corporate ladder, it took me quite a long time thinking about what I've been wanting to do and the route I've wanted to go. I've touched about every sector of IT that involves computers and yet I still felt confused. I've dabbled in help desk, gone from layer 3 networking administration to physical network installation, security (of course), hardware repair and troubleshooting, game development, and seemingly from managing my own small IT team to managing hundreds of systems redundantly.
Then I found Full Stack Development.
Since taking the plunge into JavaScript, I've had the yearn to be creative. I thought for the longest time I would enjoy UX and UI design, but I don't think it would've stuck with me for very long. Full stack on the other hand, allows me to be creative sometimes, and mainly allows me to play with code and develop software, but more important, it allows me to be creative, which I think is something I've always strived to do and will always strive to do with my career.
As you could probably tell by the length of this very simple About Me page, I love to write. Specifically, I love to write long, drawn-out blog posts about a topic that I am passionate about. So if you like those kinds of things (or potentially need a well-paid Technical Writer...) this is your place! Stick around for the in-depth posts I create! 🎊
Well, thanks for sticking around for the bottom! Take a look at the other posts I've made, or maybe take a look at my GitHub profile or swing by the Projects page here on Hashnode.