Joshua Ciaralli is a 2D/3D computer graphics creative with a new appreciation for the MEAN & LAMP stack after finishing DigitalCraft’s Web Development Bootcamp. No matter the twist or turn, Ciaralli has the pedal to the metal, ready to overcome any obstacles ahead to take his tech career to the fast lane.
“Honestly, I’m just hungry for experience and wanting to learn the world of development. I really want to learn more back-end languages (Ruby/Java) and maybe one day in the future, get a CS degree to strengthen my skills and solve problems more efficiently.”
Ciaralli’s got the green light to shift his skills into overdrive and win in the tech world, so wave that checkered flag.
What program are you currently enrolled in?
DigitalCrafts 16 Week Immersive Web Development Bootcamp covering full-stack development encompassing both the MEAN & Lamp stack.
What is your previous education?
I obtained a Bachelor of Fine Arts focused on Degree Game Art and Design. My goal was to be a 3D Environment artist for a game studio and eventually work my way up to be a game designer and develop my own ideas.
What was your work experience before aspiring to become a web developer?
I worked retail in an office supply chain. I worked up the ranks within 4 years in a fast process. I left as a Customer Experience Manager that focused on all IT support in the store and was sales lead. My motivation sparked from going to an IT job fair to find Jake Hadden at the job fair and noticing 80% of the jobs where all developer roles. After that day I started doing tons of research and coding tutorials online and also talking to my younger brother for advice in the development world. Getting support from my family gave me the green light to go, and I haven’t looked back since. I know this field is a perfect fit for me now with my creativity and technical background, they work together hand and hand. I can finally build amazing things! I can, “materialize my ideas into worlds!” I’m excited about the next thing I will learn and how I will use that knowledge to build something awesome.
What are your best technical or creative skills?
My best technical skill is to learn new software and hardware in a very fast pace. I always seem to go the next step in learning about either hardware or software to know the ins and outs of it. (Hotkeys, shortcuts, secondary functions and etc.). My best creative skills are being able to display my ideas either on paper or in 2D/3D computer graphics.
What technology and tools are essential to you as a developer?
You don’t think about how many tools you use as a developer until you start listing them, you can use 20 – 70 plus different tools/languages/hardware technologies in a given day or project. The bare minimum I would need is (sublime, Photoshop, MAC/PC, Internet, git, terminal, amazon web-server), the knowledge I have learned from DigitalCrafts (Mean/Lamp stack).
How do you stay informed & on top of emerging trends?
Social media is the best way that I keep up with top emerging trends and I have for years. Following the right people on twitter/YouTube/Facebook/twitch I know what new languages are becoming popular, hot trends, and what hardware to look out for. Anything I see that interests me from social media usually lights a spark in me to research anything about the subject and to start learning about it from either, reading, interactive learning by building things, watching videos or listening to even an audio podcast.
After DigitalCrafts, what’s next on your list to learn?
The next thing I want to tackle to learn is probably an Object Oriented Language. I think it’s really powerful knowledge/tool to know and you can create awesome things. Maybe I build awesome sites, but what if I don’t exactly like one of the software tools? Well, I could always build my own tools that fit my needs and help speed up things and maybe automate a process during my workflow. I really want to learn more back-end languages (Ruby/Java) and maybe one day in the future get a CS degree to strengthen my skills and solve problems more efficiently.
Are you interested in working for a startup, agency, mid-sized company, or a corporate giant?
Honestly, I’m just hungry for experience and wanting to learn the world of development. I think working at a start-up and mid-sized company probably would be the coolest environments to me, but right now I don’t mind working in any type of development job. Right now gaining experience is one of many steps to get to my ultimate goal as a developer.
Interested in looking at Joshua’s credentials? Check out his website, GitHub, and LinkedIn.
