A love letter to hobbyists

When I screened job applications, I was always amused by the candidates whose websites were offline or whose emails bounced. It was always a dead giveaway of who the tinkerers and hobbyists were.

James crouching beside a network rack full of servers and switches — Fig. 01Network rack that runs my hobbies and other open-source initiatives.

I’ve probably had a hundred websites over the years, but this is version four of what I’d call my portfolio site. Each time I rebuild it, I pick a new technology as the base, which lets me learn new things and expand my skill set. Whether it’s WordPress, Hugo, or Flask, every platform has its own strengths and weaknesses. My portfolio site is now optimized and stable, but it wasn’t always that way.

I’ve always made a point of maintaining a certain level of professionalism, so I keep my hobby work separate from my professional work. My portfolio lives here at jameslamken.info, and a directory of my hobby projects can be found at jameslamken.com. Those projects are in various states of operation, depending on when I find time to work on them. Personal projects allow for a certain amount of scope creep and uncertainty that cannot exist in the professional realm.

This site is really only here to give a brief overview of what I’ve done professionally, and hopefully it leaves you with a few questions. If any of the projects here catch your attention, please get in touch for a chat. And if you’re a tinkerer or hobbyist in your own right, much respect. The world needs more people like you.

James Lamken