My roots, my journey, my story

Hey there, I'm 31, a born and pure-bred Wisconsinite. I was the wild one in the family. My journey with design kicked off at 12, messing around with Adobe stuff (remember good ol' CS2 days?).

Grew up with two sisters and an elder brother - I'm second youngest. Started dabbling in websites and code (reminisce the GeoCity cites) around 14.

My first "server"? Just a hand-me-down desktop with barely enough RAM to run a game of Minecraft. Used it for hosting game servers and tinkering with websites, even sneaked in some fun with my dad's business site (don't worry, he never found out). Oh, and there were those joyrides in his truck too - got busted eventually, but hey, we live and learn, right? I promise you our relationship has greatly improved since then.

Despite the ups and downs growing up, my love for tech and design stayed rock solid. After high school, I was the go-to guy for events, flyers, websites - you name it.

At 19, I decided to try my luck in Colorado, mainly for the snowboarding scene. Ended up staying a couple of years, but homesickness eventually brought me back to Wisconsin.

Back home, I bounced between gigs - events, construction, you name it. Then, a wild idea led me to Oregon to room with an old gaming buddy I had met on Call of Duty 4 (yeah, pretty crazy right?). After a year, it was time to move on (on good terms of course), and luckily, I knew of a hometown friend that was also looking for a spot. That's when I had found my way to Portland.

Portland offered all sorts of odd jobs - rideshare, food delivery, you name it. Ended up starting my own gig, FXXR Professional, general contracting for decks, remodels, etc..

While FXXR Professional initially thrived, the demands of running a business began to weigh on me. Finding leads, bidding jobs, and manually managing the day-to-day grind left realizing that this wasn't what I truly wanted to do. I needed to get back to my roots.

So, I took a leap and started GCODES, my own web design and application business. Been loving every minute of it, working with awesome people and building cool stuff. Grateful for the chance to do what I love and excited for what's next.