Yes. I know. It has been over 3 years since my last post on here. Perhaps, people visiting the site have noticed. Perhaps, not. In any case, I am sure there are questions. What has Eric been doing? What is Eric working on? Any future plans? What happened with moving to Linux? In this post, I intend to answer those questions and, hopefully, revive my blog writing endeavor in the process.
Where I Have Been (For 3 Years-ish)?
In January of 2019, I took a position at Progress Software Corporation as a Technical Support Engineer. I was promoted to a Senior within a year and have been doing that ever since. It is a great position that affords me the opportunity to experience a wide range of .NET technologies and experiences.
I support Telerik’s UI for ASP.NET AJAX, UI for Blazor, Reporting and Report Server. Additionally, I am picking up on some abandoned XAML skills with UWP and WPF. Doing this has allowed me to expand my web, backend and desktop development skills. It has enabled me to become a more well-rounded full-stack .NET developer.
Additionally, I was able to take on some side projects like blogging and development as well. I have written several blog posts for Telerik which cover a wide range of topics. Below is a brief list of my writings over the last few years.
- Using Telerik Reporting with Kinvey’s BaaS - 2019
- A Quick Guide to Expert .NET Reporting Tools - 2020
- Telerik Reporting Web and Desktop Report Designers Blog Series - 2020
- Sleek and Customizable UI Blog Series - 2021
I also had the pleasure of building out the new Composer experience in Fiddler Everywhere. This was a completely new development experience for me. It included new technologies for me like Angular and Redux. This allowed me to modernize my front-end skills too.
All-in-all, this summarizes what I have been up to since my last post in 2018. I took a position with a very well-known company targeting .NET. I have been using my existing blogging skills to help expand my experience in writing and development. I am also learning new technologies that make me a more well-rounded developer. Given the knowledge I have gained, I am confident that I can move from the database to the server, front-end and to the desktop without too much friction.
Any Future Plans?
This leads me to my future plans. Even over the last 3-ish years technology has changed dramatically. It’s important as ever to expand my skills and continue learning. I plan to grow my knowledge on the desktop space and continue advancing along with the .NET development. It is cross-platform now and that is a big advantage. HINT: I can use it on Linux. 😊
I also plan to continue writing on this blog. I have made some really cool advancements in my personal technologies with a privacy focus as well. I plan to explore more topics like the persona cloud with Nextcloud, self-hosting with Unraid, web tracker removal through Pi-Hole and a privacy-first modbile OS with GrapheneOS.
I have also considered recording videos or streaming my personal technologies and development experiences. Not sure if this will ever come to fruition but it would be interesting. The best learning moments are those that happen in real-time.
Still Loving Linux?
I am still using a loving Linux on my personal machines. I do use Windows for work. However, this is a limited use. My personal machines run Fedora and Ubuntu. Unraid and Pi-Hole are also Linux based as well. I even use the Linux Subsystem for Windows pretty regularly too.
Ultimately, each of my personal computers do include .NET and I would like to explore using .NET technologies on Linux more. Doing this will keep my development skills relevant in .NET across both Windows and Linux. I expect to write more about this in the future. In my opinion, gone are the days of Linux vs. Windows.
Conclusion
This has been a quick update of my skills over the last few years. This post should answer help anyone looking to know what I have been doing, what my plans are in the future and if I am still a Linux user. As always, let’s keep on learning and growing.