Matthew Allen Email & Phone Number

For most of my life, I thought of Mechanical Engineering as my dream job. I was wrong. Everyone hopes that their first choice is the correct one, but for me that was not the case; after five years of college (OSU) and 3 years of engineering as a professional, there was one thing I truly enjoyed: computers.At OSU, I took a few basic coding courses as part of the mechanical engineering curriculum, and, while working as a structural and then design engineer, I frequently used highly complex software. Those were always my favorite parts.At the same time, working as a mechanical engineer exposed me to some of the uglier sides of software. I found myself thinking, "This software is so hard to use"; "I could totally make this look better"; "This interface is terrible".Finally, after maxing out my student loans and spending years doing something I was not passionate about (sunk-cost fallacy - yay!), I decided to make a change. I decided to combine my new-found passion for making things look pretty with my old love of computers, and I began attending Holberton School in Tulsa for Computer Science and Full Stack Web Development.And Holberton (now Atlas) only fed my desire to be in Tech. In the first two trimesters I learned C, Python, HTML, CSS, JavaScript, MySQL, Git, Bash scripting, Linux, etc. Then I moved on to the Full-Stack Specialization and continued to learn technologies such as Bootstrap, SASS/SCSS, responsive design, accessibility, Figma prototyping, fundamentals of UI/UX Design, React, Vue, Tailwind, APIs, and so much more.Most importantly, I have learned how to be a better leader, follower, teacher, and learner.I have also learned that, though I may have wasted a lot of time and money in Mechanical Engineering, those skills that I learned - project management, written communication, and presentation skills - have been invaluable.I am a huge advocate for humor in the workplace, and I encourage everyone to watch Andrew Tarvin's Ted Talk entitled "Humor at work" (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6iFCm5ZokBI). Outside of tech, my favorite activity is spending time with my family. I'm an amateur chef who loves sharing the food I make with others, a gamer, and a terrible guitar player.Now that you have a little insight into my story, feel free to connect! Send me new recipes! Send me your favorite cat video! Hire me!- Matt