What's important to me?

Speed

Making sure my sites are able to load smoothly and quickly are top priorities to me. There's no question: websites need to load quickly. How developers achieve this goal however, is up for debate. I do my best to follow best-practice methods and stay current with the latest technologies. I track the performance and analytics of all my websites, and constantly research ways to improve.

Readability

There is nothing worse than revisiting an old project and realizing your code makes no sense. After I built my a few full websites, I recognized similar patterns in my code. I do my best to organize my work in a readable fashion so that when I revisit, I don't have to rewrite unnessecary code. It has made my life a lot easier, and is very important to me in regard to my projects.

UX/UI

User interface and experience are two crucially important aspects to me when it comes to developing and designing websites. People are picky. If a website doesn't look or feel right, the user isn't likely to stick around. Understanding both what works and what goes over well with certain demographics is a salient factor in my projects, and something I always try to stay on top of.

Personal Attributes

  • Very loyal: I'm a leafs fan, if that doesn't prove it... nothing will.
  • Motivated and hard working: easily adaptable to new environments.
  • People person: I'm outgoing & love meeting new people.
  • Good communicator: happy to take criticism.
  • Good listener: happy to take compliments.
  • All around happy guy. Life is too good to complain.

Skills & Technologies

Education & Experience

Codeberry/Matt Berry Tech Co (MBTC)

In high school, I started a business selling websites to local businesses. At first, I was using CMS's like Wordpress and Wix as my medium for development. After a month or so, natural curiosity and frustration with the platforms' limitations forced me to taking coding more seriously. I began to teach myself all the awesome languages I use now, and I'm nothing but excited to keep learning. I've since slowed down my activity selling websites, and transitioned to Codeberry; which is really just a personal portfolio. In all honesty, I just didn't like the sound of my own name that much, and MBTC never really stuck. Live and learn!

Udemy/W3/Online Resources

Since I started teaching myself how to code at 14, I've used countless online resources in order to do so. Notably and recently, I have completed the App Brewery's Complete 2019 Web Development Bootcamp, Andrei Neagoie's Advanced Javascript Concepts and Eduonix's Full Stack Web Development Course.

Western University

I started my studies at Western University focusing on finance and marketing. I initially thought it would be more reasonable to learn business in university and computer science on my own, but after my first year, I switched to a BSc. in Computer Science.

St Thomas Aquinas Secondary

I went to high school in London. Pretty standard stuff... Luckily for me, the school offered a pretty cool computer science program, which is where I was introduced to programming and coding. I was the Prime Minister of our Student Council, played hockey, and shredded the badminton court.