Ahoy-hoy!
Welcome, and thank you for visiting!
I’m Danny. I’ve been a special education teacher professionally for ten years, a back-end web developer for four, a private tutor since university, and a writer and game designer since forever — increasingly all at the same time. As you’re here, there’s a good chance you’d like to know more about me and see if I’d be a good fit for your needs1; I’ll talk more about myself presently, but if you’re in a hurry to get a sense of how I think and what I care about, you may prefer to jump to my recent projects and posts below, review my Résumé, or see my personal Philosophy for a wordier take.
My Professional Web Development Experience
Following my graduation from the Lighthouse Labs web development bootcamp in Toronto, I worked for PostageApp primarily as a back-end and API developer. I mainly worked in Ruby, using the Rails framework, and focused on building a GraphQL API to eventually replace the existing RESTful interface. I also honed my experience with JavaScript/TypeScript, React, Vue, ExpressJS, and Sinatra while working on smaller projects.
I’m passionate about learning and teaching in all contexts, so I’m eager to find a team where I can exchange and build expertise with opportunities to both provide and receive mentorship. Working to improve the knowledge, skills, and confidence of others is where I find the most motivation and satisfaction.
Programming Projects
Most recently, I’ve been building a physics-enhanced Asteroids-like game in GameMaker Studio as a way to explore contexts where performant code is critical and to practice independent project management. Also, it’s been an awful lot of fun. I’ve incorporated my personal Devlog into this site as an ongoing chronicle of my progress, but I also speak about my process and the limitations I’ve discovered with GameMaker in greater depth on the project page, below.
I love thinking about and designing games, especially where learning, language, and/or cooperation are involved.
Rock Popper Deluxe!
An Asteroids-like game, written in GameMaker Studio. Continue reading Rock Popper Deluxe!
Word-Walker
A tool for creating a Boggle-grid containing a specified string, written in Ruby. Continue reading Word-Walker
See Projects for more
My Professional Teaching Experience
After graduating from OISE’s Department of Curriculum, Teaching, and Learning with my M.A., I became computers and technology teacher at the Dunblaine School in Toronto. It hadn’t been my initial plan to work with younger students, or to focus on students with special needs, but the community and the kids welcomed and absorbed me rapidly. It’s been my privilege to work with Dunblaine since 2012, teaching technology to K-8 students and to work one-on-one to provide enrichment.
My Writing
As a teacher, in a sense I’m a trained and professional communicator, but conveying information accurately, efficiently, and enjoyably has always been an aspiration. It’s also personal: I find I need to write to think and to learn, and so I’ve decided to use the Blog area of this website as a place to publish the artifacts of my learning process as well as articles that may be more directly useful for visitors.
I’ve also included a portfolio of my creative and academic Writing for those interested.
A Simple Sandwich, Part I
A deeply silly exploration of sandwich-building instructions in Ruby, inspired by assumptions we make about abstraction and some amusing cruelty to children. Continue reading A Simple Sandwich, Part I
Benchmarking an Old Chestnut
Testing linear vs. quadratic time-complexity to reluctantly prove myself not wrong. Continue reading Benchmarking an Old Chestnut
See Blog for more
Thanks for taking the time to read about me. I’d love to hear from you!
Alternatively, you might be friends and family helping me find typos and obnoxious prose. Hello to you too! ↩︎