I'm an aspiring software and IT engineer with additional passions for media & graphics, real-time systems, and other fields which supplement my hobbies. I'm also very fond of Linux, particularly Debian-based systems, of which I use greatly. Within the domain of Linux, I also enjoy contributing to desktop applications and the desktop experience in general.
See my GitHub for public repositories or my listed projects on this site for past or present projects of mine.
I'm open to work. If interested in potentially hiring me for a software development or IT role (or otherwise related work), you can message me at my professional email address, self@wcyates.xyz.
Interests & Skills
I particularly enjoy working with Debian based systems. I have aspirations to get involved in the processes of the Debian project, namely packaging, after having created a few source packages of my own.
I'm particularly interested in multimedia transcoding and many things related to arts and graphics as part of my hobbies. For the aforementioned interests, I currently have a suitable self-built desktop running a kind of Debian Unstable which I use on a daily basis for games, transcoding, artwork, and other projects such as fiction writing and the like. Additionally, for my experimentation, I occasionally use and test NixOS and OpenSUSE [Tumbleweed], and I sometimes use Cachy-OS on my laptop.
I'm most proficient in Python, C and other C-like languages - namely C++, Zig, and Rust, and POSIX Shell while having some experience in Javascript, Typescript, and CSS (This site is evidence of that; it's source is available).
For other proficiencies:
- I'm capable of utilizing Docker/Podman for container deployment and containerized software package builds.
- I have used FFMPEG to do extensive transcoding for video archival and recording. To some extent, I have also used spandrel/chaiNNer to do video upscaling in tandem.
My perceived best trait is that I like to keep systems (e.g. codebases, documentation, etc.) consistently organized and parseable, almost to a compulsive degree. As such, I continually look at projects I work on and wonder, "What can I do to both improve and future proof my work?". As such, when developing software, I believe improving the developer experience (e.g. readability, code deduplication) and ensuring accurate documentation and annotation goes a long way toward making everyone's lives easier.
Hobbies
Elaborating on the briefly stated hobbies:
I enjoy the visual arts, including creating graphics and artworks in my spare time. Currently, I publish my artworks on the public internet under pseudonymous accounts and to family sometimes.
I'm also very generally interested in anthropology, namely focusing on presently applicable axioms of humanity as well as speculating as to what future technologies may emerge and how civilization(s) may evolve from those technologies or certain events. Additionally, I'm particularly interested in generalizing anthropology beyond Human study to a broader [theoretical] study of sapient life and civilizations.
In my down time, I enjoy writing and fictional worldbuilding that integrates the products of my anthropological intrigues. I also produce artwork and illustrations to support. I haven't yet published my writing except for private drafts. The subject of my writing often is connected with my publications of artworks, so it's of course discussed in private or pseudonymously.
If you come to know me personally, you can feel free to ask about my ventures and works. I personally use the free and open source Krita, LibreOffice, and Zim for their respective domains; however, for that set of software, I have been looking at contributing improvements, finding alternatives, or perhaps developing my own suite where possible.
In other work, I presently have been volunteering and working at local organizations throughout my life and recently.
For a while, I have been volunteering at a local animal shelter, handling dogs of all kinds for a few hours each week while working on my own personal projects and ventures.
I also do volunteer video production for a local organization and have done video production for events and conferences.