Hi,
I graduated high school in 2005 and spent the next seven years doing mostly nothing. I worked food service jobs and lived in a basement. Then, in 2012, I went back to school, got a Computer Science degree, and spent the next decade working as a Software Engineer.
I was always a square peg in a round hole. I’m good at math, and I can program just fine—but I never lived and breathed code the way many of my coworkers did. For years, I’ve wanted a job that felt more human, more immediate, more meaningful.
Earlier this year, I was laid off.
Now, I’m trying to become a teacher at one of the local schools. I’m trading a tech salary for a massive pay cut and a lot more work. It might be the best move ever. Or it might kill me. Hard to say.
Meanwhile, the world seems to be collapsing. The job market is the worst I’ve ever seen. Working for the school district feels like the most stable option. But what do I know?
That’s the background. This blog is where I’ll document the transition from software developer to teacher. I’ll probably also write about other things – life, the universe, and everything.
As for this domain: it originally belonged to a web design firm back in the ’90s. They had a kids’ portal with a chat room where I spent countless hours as a kid. The site was supposedly “certified kid safe,” which it definitely wasn’t. I burned the URL into my brain and kept typing it into browsers for years. I never even realized it was supposed to be “A Design Above.” I always read it as one word: “AdesignAbove.”
About a decade ago, the domain went up for sale. I grabbed it. I’ve been looking for an excuse to use it ever since.
So no, this site isn’t about design. As you’ve probably noticed, I don’t know anything about design. But if you happen to know anything about the original owners of that weird old web firm, please get in touch. I’ve got questions.
