Self-Taught · C# · .NET · Backend · Automation

Building things to understand how they work.

Six years of self-taught development — no bootcamp, no CS degree. Just curiosity, books, YouTube, and a compulsion to understand what's actually happening under the abstraction. I build real tools, ship them, and write about what I had to figure out the hard way.

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About

The kind of developer
who has to know why.

I came up the hard way — no formal CS training, just a deep need to understand how things actually work rather than being told what to click. That meant a lot of wrong turns, a lot of digging, and eventually a lot of things clicking in ways they might not have if someone handed me the answer.

My background is in C# and .NET backend development — Windows services, REST APIs, database work, and lately mobile with .NET MAUI. I've shipped production tools for restaurant operations, built encrypted messaging apps, and helped a local business get their first website live.

I'm currently building out a Raspberry Pi home server, exploring the full C# compilation pipeline down to native assembly, and writing about the concepts that took me the longest to actually understand.

Primary stack

C# .NET 8 ASP.NET Core .NET MAUI Roslyn PostgreSQL SQLite Quartz.NET

Also comfortable with

Python C++ JavaScript HTML/CSS Linux Nginx Git Linux/Windows
5
Years self-taught
4+
Shipped projects

Projects

Things I actually built.

Real tools, real problems. Not tutorials or clones.

C# · ASP.NET Core · Roslyn

C# Under The Hood

A live pipeline visualization tool that shows what happens to C# code at every compilation stage — source to AST, IL, and native x86/ARM assembly. Features real-time sourcemap highlighting, debug vs release IL comparison, and an AI layer that explains any line across all four pipeline stages. Runs on a Raspberry Pi 4.

Stack: ASP.NET Core · Roslyn · ICSharpCode.Decompiler · objdump · Anthropic API

Interesting: Reading PDB sequence points to build a real-time IL↔source sourcemap

C# · .NET MAUI · Android

GhostChat / CalcPro

An encrypted messenger disguised as a working calculator app for Android. Tap a hidden sequence to reveal the encrypted chat underneath. End-to-end encryption, QR-based key exchange, and AI-generated cover text via the Anthropic API to make the chat history plausible if inspected.

Stack: .NET MAUI · C# · Android · Anthropic API · SQLite

Interesting: Camera lifecycle management and QR exchange across Android versions

C# · .NET · PostgreSQL

Firehouse Windows Service

A background Windows service for restaurant operations automation. Scheduled reporting, PostgreSQL data aggregation, and automated delivery via Gmail, Slack, and Google Sheets. Originally built 5 years ago, recently refactored with full async/await, parameterized SQL, and scoped connections.

Stack: C# · Quartz.NET · PostgreSQL · Google Sheets API · Gmail · Slack

Interesting: Async propagation through legacy synchronous code paths

HTML · CSS · JavaScript

Cents-ible Cleaners

A professional website for a local dry cleaning business in Hiram, GA — built as a real-world learning project with my son. Single-file, zero-dependency HTML with service listing, contact forms, and responsive design. Hosted on GitHub Pages.

Stack: HTML · CSS · JavaScript · GitHub Pages

Interesting: Teaching real dev concepts through a genuine client project

Learning

Concepts explained by someone
who had to figure them out.

A note on what this is: These aren't written by someone who found this stuff easy. They're written by someone who spent an embarrassing amount of time confused, finally had it click, and wrote down exactly what changed โ€” including the wrong mental models that were in the way.
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Test Post

This is a test post to verify the pipeline works.

Let's talk about interesting problems.

Open to contract work, collaborations, or just a conversation about something you're building. Particularly interested in backend systems, tooling, and anything that requires understanding what's happening below the abstraction.