Coding Stats
I recently reviewed my statistics on CoderStats, which pulls public information from the GitHub API. My statistics are fairly underwhelming, but (I assume like many others) they do not tell the full story.
I have always worked in IT, initially as an analyst, prominently in infrastructure roles (web hosting, networking, etc.) I eventually progressed into architecture, working alongside engineering teams. Although I have never had a role as a dedicated software engineer, the rise of software-defined techniques and technologies, alongside the growth of digital business models, presented opportunities to get “hands-on keyboard” and code.
Alongside work, I have always had a strong personal interest in software development (mostly web technologies) and have explored a lot of different programming languages, specifically JavaScript, Ruby, PHP, Python, Apex, GML, etc.
Over the years, I have written numerous articles highlighting my coding projects.
- 2011: PhoneGap
- 2013: Wordpress on Heroku
- 2014: IE Rendering Modes
- 2014: VF / IE Rendering Issue
- 2014: Force.com Application Platform
- 2014: JavaScript - Part One
- 2014: JavaScript - Part Two
- 2014: Developing on Force.com
- 2014: JavaScript - Part Three
- 2015: Installing Rails on OS X
- 2015: Jekyll on Heroku
- 2015: ES6 - Part One
- 2015: Conf Buddy
- 2015: Force.com Standards
- 2015: ES6 - Part Two
- 2015: Less with Grunt
- 2016: Auth0 and Rails
- 2016: Materialize and Force.com
- 2016: Node Architecture
- 2016: Site Builder
- 2016: Harp and Heroku
- 2016: GraphQL
- 2016: Site Builder
- 2016: Python Cheat Sheet
- 2016: Processing (p5.js)
- 2017: GameMaker Studio 2
- 2017: Alfred Snippets
- 2017: App Cloud - Hybrid Apps
- 2017: Jekyll and Docker
- 2017: Blockchain Playground
- 2017: Progressive Web Apps
- 2017: Blockchian Playground UI
- 2017: JAMstack
- 2018: Jekyll PWA
- 2019: Tank Arena
- 2019: Swift Playgrounds
- 2020: iPad Development
Due to the nature of my work and personal projects, the majority of my coding is private (stored in private repositories). Therefore, sites like CoderStats are unable to show a holistic view.
As a result, I thought I would share my full statistics for GitHub, including public and private contributions.
- 2016: 671 Contributions
- 2017: 81 Contributions
- 2018: 321 Contributions
- 2019: 221 Contributions
- 2020: 372 Contributions
NOTE: Before 2016, my work used Atlassian Bitbucket as their SCM system, which I also used for personal projects (providing consistency). Unfortunately, when I switched to GitHub in late 2015, I did not retain my previous contributions.
In reality, my full statistics are still not particularly impressive, but certainly demonstrate higher engagement than my public persona.
The year 2016 was stand-out for me, where I was the lead developer on two enterprise web applications, delivered as part of an extra-curricular work assignment. I showcased these web applications in the articles “Conf Buddy” and “Site Builder”.
In 2017, I contributed to several Blockchain projects, focused on education (e.g. Hash Trees, Consensus Algorithms, etc.) Specifically, Blockchain Playground and Blockchian Playground UI.
Regarding development language rankings, my private contributions align with my public persona, with a strong preference for JavaScript. CoderStats flags “Yacc” (Yet Another Compiler-Compiler), which is actually “GML” (GameMaker Language).
- JavaScript
- HTML
- PHP
- Ruby
- Visualforce
- Apex
- Yacc (GML)
- CSS
Unsurprisingly, as my responsibilities at work (and home) have increased, my coding time has naturally decreased. However, even in my role as Chief Technology Officer (CTO), I believe maintaining tangible skills is of critical importance. Therefore, I aim to explore one or two projects per year, generally targetting new technologies and/or new techniques that force me to stay “current” with the latest trends. For example, Apple Swift and Progressive Web Apps, etc.
Finally, I am increasingly interested in supporting initiatives that promote coding with children and young adults, either through coding clubs, hackathons and coding applications/services. This includes exploring and creating coding challenges that I complete with my children.