Introduction

March 1st, 2022

I had a great bowl cut

Celebrating Christmas with my brother and sister

My family

Shelby, Michael and I on the 4th of July

Calie and I after undergrad graduation in 2016

A slightly more grown up version

Childhood & Undergrad

I was born in Minnesota in 1994 and after a few short months, my family moved to Washington State. We lived in a small town called Richland. Most people don't relate the desert to Washington State, but where we lived was an exception. The Cascade mountain range is directly to the northwest, separating Seattle and Portland from Richland. All those rain clouds get blocked by the mountains, resulting in dry, desert conditions. This has made for some great stories, like seeing tarantulas at recess and finding rattle snakes in the garage. I remember running around the neighborhood with friends and catching garter snakes in the backyard. My time in Washington State ended when my dad got a new job at IBM and we relocated to Cincinnati, Ohio.

Being a new student from out west wasn't easy in Ohio, especially in 2nd grade. However, with some time and effort, I made some great friends. I played soccer, basketball, and football during elementary and picked up lacrosse in middle school. I continued playing football and lacrosse throughout high school and enjoyed living it up on the weekends with my friends. Whether it was going to see the latest movie out, or trying to find the cool party to be at, we always found something fun to do. Sports and hanging with friends consumed my time during high school, and at the conclusion of senior year I made the decision to attend Ohio University to study economics.

I enjoyed most of my courses, particularly my behavioral economics class. That led me to minor in sociology where I continued learning about human behavior and decision-making. Outside of class, I began to explore my interests even more, and spent less time out partying and more time working on projects. This ranged from teaching myself graphic design, learning to code websites, and attempting to analyze financial markets. I was drawn to the process of creating, organizing, and maintaining different systems and structures. I enjoyed working on my personal projects so much, I often had trouble balancing it with my academics. With a little bit of diligence, I made my way and graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in Economics in early 2016.

Early Career & Postgrad

Since my undergrad years, I've continued exploring things that interest me. My first job was in financial services, which only lasted about a year as I quickly learned that most folks won't trust a 22-year-old with their retirement funds. Although the job didn't work out, I received my series 6 securities license and learned some valuable lessons about investing. In particular, the importance of starting early and diversifying. I also picked up some helpful strategies for building credit, managing debt, and setting up retirement accounts. The financial literacy I got from that job ended up being far more valuable to me than any of the money I made while actually working there.

Thanks to my experience working on websites and applications in college, I was able to land my next position working on a mobile application called First View. I did mostly analyst and support tasks, but after proving my technical aptitude I was asked to help code an ETL tool. I quickly realized that I wanted to pursue software development, and began planning how I could improve and get a job building software full-time.

After applying and spending two more years of studying, I completed the MSIT program at the University of Cincinnati in 2021. I've been working as a software developer now for several years at Aware Innovations, and would not be where I am without my education and extracurricular work. I've got a lot of plans for the future, and am excited to see what I can do as I continue growing in my career. Outside of work, I still spend ample time diving into new projects and exploring my curiosities. These days it always feels like there is so much to do, so I've had to get better at deciding what to focus on and how I spend my time. One thing I decided to do was start documenting my journey through life.

Documenting My Journey

I've always had a bio website at "stepheneades.info", but for awhile it was just some posts about my projects, my graphic design portfolio, and some pictures of trips I've been on. Most of my work resides on GitHub these days and I have plans to travel more in the coming years, so I decided it was time to update my website. I figured I should add specific sections for work and travel. Then I thought why not try blogging while I'm at it. I was hesitant at first. I've always been more introverted and kept my thoughts offline. However I've found I'm more effective at written communication. In fact, the process of writing and editing forces me to develop more clear and concise thoughts.

It also seemed like a good time to start putting my thoughts into digital format. The world is becoming so isolated these days, and it's not as often we get to see friends and family. I hope this site will remedy that by providing an easily accessible way of keeping up with where I am and what I'm up to. Of the topics I cover, I'll give my perspective and explain my reasoning behind it. Otherwise, I'll likely write about meaningful or exciting events in my life. Whatever it is, hopefully it'll be of some interest to you.