Jonathan Allen

About

I am a software engineer and educator with over 20 years of industry experience. I have a strong background in C# / .NET application development and DevOps automation, and I'm well-versed in Agile methods. I received both my Bachelor of Science in Computer Information Systems and my Master of Software Engineering degrees from Arizona State University.  My journey in the tech industry started back in 1999 when I joined a local life insurance company as a Junior Programmer. With hard work and determination, I took on more and more responsibility eventually becoming the Head Nerd. In this role, I had the opportunity to set, negotiate and implement the long-term direction of all IT for the company. I also got to flex my creative muscles by writing rich-client WPF & WinForms applications for internal use and account management using C#, Visual Studio and Azure DevOps. And let me tell you, there's nothing quite like the feeling of seeing your code come to life! In 2004, I decided to branch out and took on an IT Specialist role for an accounting firm, where I worked on Windows administration, networking, and support. I also helped organize and run an evening software engineering reading group at a local co-working space in Gilbert, Arizona. It was a great way to give back to the community and share my knowledge with others. From 2013-2020, I served as Cub Scout Cubmaster, then Boy Scout Scoutmaster, where I learned that keeping a group of young boys organized is not an easy task. In 2018, I joined Snow College, where I get to share my knowledge and experience with the next generation of software engineers. I get to develop and deliver courses in Back-End Web Development, Cloud Application Development, Mobile Application Development and more.

I find it’s important to remember that the two hardest things in software engineering are cache invalidation, naming things, and off-by-one errors.  It’s also good to remember that there are 10 types of people in the world – those that know binary, and those that don’t. Oh, and don’t forget that the plural of developer is merge conflict. ;-)

Education

• B.S.; Computer Information Systems, Arizona State University
• M.S.; Software Engineering, Arizona State Universtiy