So you’ve come here to learn about me eh? Well, here’s my story then: I’m a 24 year-old Web Developer & Designer, but you’ve already figured that out! I was born and raised in North East, Pennsylvania. I explored a lot of different ideas before I discovered Web Development & Design as my passion. I grew up doing random self-employed work such as mowing lawns and landscaping for people all around town and it suited me well for years, but let’s face it, no one aspires to be a professional lawn-mower when they grow up.
I graduated high school with a 3-year certification in Construction Trades (Carpentry & Masonry) and I thought I was set! I continued to do that for a couple years self-employed and although I enjoyed it, I was always one to enjoy physical activities such as weight lifting and running, and after a day of carpentry, there just wasn’t energy left to do it. Somewhere along the way I ran into a guy named Ryan, who is now one of my best friends and a he had been a Software Developer for years. I always laughed when he mentioned programming, uttering things like “Staring at characters on a screen all day? No thanks…”, but I soon came to realize there’s much more to it. Ryan gave me a small project: He told me to write a tic-tac-toe game in C++. I humored him and gave it a shot, and here I am today, a freelance Web Developer and Designer, loving every minute of it! My newly found passion allows me to meet new people and help them establish an image on the web, taking nothing and turning it into something beautiful along the way.
I’ve always been a seeker of knowledge, and it’s no exception when it comes to development. I’m always seeking out new technologies and looking for new avenues to explore. I see the sky as the limit as to where my passion will take me and I’m open to anything!
Now, don’t get me wrong, I absolutely love what I do and there’s nothing more rewarding than “going” to work every day to do what you love, but I have to step away from the computer once in a while right? Definitely. As I mentioned before, I really enjoy exercise, weight lifting, etc. It helps me to feel great every morning and I plan on doing so until I just can’t move anymore! I’m a very friendly person and I love to meet people and get out and go places. One of my favorite things to do is go out to eat and explore all the cool restaurants anywhere I go!
I also have a pretty strong urge to travel when I can. It doesn’t matter where, I just like to get out and explore different places. So if you’re looking to get out, hit me up!
In case you haven’t noticed the picture on the right, I play guitar and have been playing for several years. I can’t say I play as much as I’d like to these days, but I still play guitar as lead guitarist in the praise and worship band at my local church “Assembly of God of North East” And guess what? Yea, I built their website too! (Site going live soon…) I’m not sure how I’ll fit this in with everything else I like to do, but I’d also like to better learn drums too. I guess we’ll see what happens.
I just recently graduated with a Bachelor’s from Mercyhurst University in Erie, PA as a Computer Systems Major with a Web Information Systems concentration and I’m incredibly excited to finally be able to use my skill set to bring about some big changes in the Erie area and beyond!
It may come as no surprise, but I’m kind of a nerd! You’d never know it first meeting me though. As I said, I’m very social and outgoing. I just have an incredible interest in newly developed technologies, gadgets, software and oh, did I mention gadgets? 😉 <3 Apple products.
More closely regarding my career as a Designer & Developer, I strive t0 create stunning, standards compliant, beautiful and useable websites for each client I have the privilege to work with. I work very closely and build relationships with all my clients to make sure they get exactly what they want and it hasn’t failed me yet! My technologies of choice are PHP, MySQL, HTML5, CSS3, and Javascript. My Content Management System of choice is usually WordPress because for those of you who don’t know, it’s awesome! In fact, this website is built on WordPress! I, of course, have experience in many other open-source platforms and they all have their place. I always carefully choose which platform is best for each client, based on their needs and future plans.
Some of the software I use includes Adobe Photoshop, Illustrator and InDesign, Coda 2 and Aptana Studio for development and of course, a Macbook Pro to run all this super cool stuff! Did I mention I love Apple? I digress.
Well, if you’re somehow still with me, you certainly deserve a cookie or something. So here. 
Thanks to everyone for visiting my website and supporting my business and if you’d like me to work on your project, just toss me a quick Message or Quote Request and I’ll get back to you very quickly. I promise! Oh and don’t forget to click the Facebook and Google+ like buttons up top to help spread the word!
– Zach
