I’m Jacob. I currently live in Chicago and work as a software engineer. But how did I get here?
Well, I was born in Durham, NC and lived there for twelve years. Then, I lived in Orlando, FL for six years, taking me to the end of high school. At that point, my family moved back to Durham, but I started college, attending Case Western Reserve University getting a degree in Computer Science. Four years later, I graduated with that degree and moved to Chicago, starting a job at BlueBolt Solutions.
I guess there are a few story arcs that are important for forming who I am today. I first started programming by messing around with Scratch in fourth grade. That was back when Scratch was a fairly new thing (they were on version 1.2 then, and on 3.0 at the time I write this). I spent a lot of my free time building various games as well as other interesting creations in Scratch, which taught me the fundamentals of programming in a fun way. As time went on in middle and high school, I learned other languages and the tools of the trade, so to speak. I knew since starting with Scratch that I wanted to work in the software industry, and I followed through with that vision.
In high school I also developed a strong interest in transit and cities in general.
For spring break my junior college, I took a trip to Chicago. I chose Chicago since it’s not crazy far from Cleveland and was a large city I hadn’t experienced much. I don’t know what it was, but something struck me about the city. I knew immediately I wanted to live there. My senior year I set about making this happen by focusing my job search on the Chicago area, and as luck would have it I ended up being hired by BlueBolt. I certainly moved in an interesting time (right in the middle of the COVID-19 pandemic), but nevertheless made the city my home.