I used to have a work / technical blog. But then I got bored of it and took it down after a while. It’s been a couple of years since that happened and now I find myself constantly wanting to write down the things that are going through my mind. Mostly for my own reference (what better way to learn than to teach something) but also to showcase the soft skills that are much needed in the field I work in. Let’s jump right in with an introduction.

I’m John Pereira and I’m a software developer. My chosen field is the Web and I mostly work with PHP, Javascript and NodeJS. I’m also familiar with Java to a certain degree. I’m in the process of deciding to learn a new language but it’s currently an even split between Python, Ruby and the Android SDK (Java). Hoping to add the final candidate into the 2012 new year resolutions.

I’ve been coding since I was in school, and I’ve been doing it professionally for about 4 years now. I started out with QBasic and then moved on to VB5 and then a bunch of different languages when I was studying for my bachelors. Most of my work has revolved around large business process oriented systems.

I code for fun and for profit but I haven’t yet contributed to an open source project. This is something I hope to rectify soon, suggestions are welcome. My current toolbox is made up of Zend Framework, CakePHP, WordPress, a bunch of NodeJS libs, MongoDB and jQuery so it would be nice to extend my knowledge in those areas. The only community I have any level of activity is on StackOverflow.

It’s not all fun and games though, as a dutiful gamer I put in whatever time I can grinding through levels (where applicable). I’ve already planned out my December – January playlist like so – Battlefield 3, Modern Warfare 3, Arkham City and Skyrim. I also read a lot of fantasy, sci fi and Terry Pratchett (Yes he rates his own mention because he’s just that good).

And in case I didn’t make this clear earlier, I really enjoy what I do.