Hello, World!

May 2023

Hi there, thanks for stopping by my personal site. My name is Jake Wallace. I am a software developer, architect and tech mentor. My passion for technology ignited at the young age of five years old when I first sat down on the couch and witnessed my older brother playing through The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time for the Nintendo 64. Even at that age I understood someone had created this game! If they could create something as amazing as Zelda, perhaps I could create my own games too. It was at eight years old when I was first exposed to Adobe Flash. For the next six years I would be scripting games trying to emulate some of my favorite titles from popular sites back in the day like Addicting Games and New Grounds. After playing some popular MMORPGs (Massively Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Games) like RuneScape and MapleStory I soon found myself wanting to create a similar type of online multiplayer game. Unfortunately, I did not know enough about coding and technology to make this happen and my dreams began to fade.

In addition to this, my family made a big move from California to Texas around the time I was to enter high school. This was a pivotal time period for me and in the interest of making friends and not seeming like such a nerd, I was quick to put my passion for coding and game development away and engage in the immediate extracurricular activities around me. Flashforward to nearing my college graduation, I had pursued a degree in Economics because I was talented in math and saw it as my easy way out of college. However, as I saw some of my friends get office jobs they loathed I made the realization that I desperately needed to find a career path I was passionate about less I was destined for the same fate of hating my job.

Around this time I became an avid podcast listener and listening to one of my favorites, The Tim Ferriss Show, I heard the quote: “Be the person that you needed most when you were twelve years old.” My mind immediately flashed back to twelve year old me, sitting at the computer and struggling to comprehend the nuances of network programming. What had happened to my passion for game development and coding over the last decade of my life? It dawned on me that being a nerd wasn’t all that bad and that this very well could be my path forward in life: to reignite my passion and embody the person with the knowledge and wisdom that my child self lacked. I was blessed to receive mentorship from friends in industry working at companies like Amazon and Facebook at the time. They encouraged me to attend an educational bootcamp that specialized in coding. I had my doubts as I had only recently graduated college yet I was prepared to throw my newly earned degree out the window and start fresh.

Reflecting back, this was the best decision I ever made. For the next six months I attended the coding bootcamp part time with two night classes during the week and one all day class on Saturdays, all the while working a full time sales job. By month five of the program, I was all in. I quit my sales job and went full time into learing how to code, building out my portfolio and becoming relentless in my pursuit to land my first developer role. Three months after the six month coding bootcamp had ended, I received my offer letter. The pay wasn’t stellar and I wasn’t doing game development, but I achieved my dream nonetheless. Flashforward to today and I have had the honor of working for three companies as an Entry Level, Mid Level, and Lead Software Developer. My working environment has been diverse with experience in both commercial and federal sectors. I have worked in small, mid-sized, and large enterprises. I have designed and developed applications for both consumer and enterpise technologies. Not to mention the amazing mentorship I’ve had the priviledge of undertaking throughout my career. On top of this, my passion for game development remains strong as I continue to puruse it as one of my favorite hobbies.

With the wealth of knowledge, wisdom, and experience I have accumulated throughout my career it has weighed on my heart to give back. The profundity of knowing how much my life has been enriched simply by learning how to code and work with technology cannot be understated. God has certainly been looking after me and has awakened me to the reality that I am here to serve. As such, I am compelled to mentor others who are seeking the same freedom and abundance that a mastery in technology has afforded me. The organization I have started to direct these mentorships is called Boardhouse Technology Academy. For anyone interested you can add me on Discord (gizmolo) and reach out to me there. In addition, on this site you can view my qualifications here and some projects I have highlighted here.

Keep elevating and reaching for the stars! 🚀✨