1.1--- a/hello-world.org	Thu Nov 02 22:50:59 2023 -0400
     1.2+++ b/hello-world.org	Sun Nov 19 21:07:54 2023 -0500
     1.3@@ -1,21 +1,95 @@
     1.4 #+TITLE: hello world
     1.5 
     1.6-Hello world,
     1.7+If we've spoken recently I may have mentioned this new venture, but I
     1.8+certainly didn't communicate my intentions well. Now is the time to
     1.9+elaborate.
    1.10+
    1.11+* The Compiler Company
    1.12+
    1.13+The name is a play on the phrase /Compiler Collection/, as in [[https://gcc.gnu.org/][GNU
    1.14+Compiler Collection (GCC)]] and emphasizes my approach to
    1.15+problem-solving involving compiler technologies.
    1.16+
    1.17+I recently registered as an LLC, but the purpose of the company is
    1.18+that of a company incubator, or /compiler/ if you will. In other
    1.19+words, I intend for /The Compiler Company, LLC/ to be a hub for
    1.20+developing various interconnected products and services which can be
    1.21+operated and managed independently of each other.
    1.22 
    1.23-My name is Richard, and a few weeks ago I registered my first company:
    1.24-/The Compiler Company, LLC/.
    1.25+/The Compiler Company/ technically provides two things:
    1.26+1. free and open-source software
    1.27+2. professional consulting services
    1.28+
    1.29+The software is made publicly available without restriction and anyone
    1.30+can pay for paid professional consultations/training/etc.
    1.31+
    1.32+The /core/ of our software suite is an insanely powerful development
    1.33+environment built from scratch. It is the catalyst of engineering for
    1.34+every other software component I build and reflects how I believe
    1.35+software should be developed /today/.
    1.36+
    1.37+The suite further contains a mixed bag of plugins, extensions,
    1.38+libraries, and applications intended for software development in
    1.39+addition to /all/ vendored dependencies. This setup gives us complete
    1.40+control over every possible piece of code we encounter in the systems
    1.41+we operate.
    1.42+
    1.43+* About Me
    1.44+
    1.45+Before introducing my company I think it's important to properly
    1.46+introduce myself --
    1.47 
    1.48-If we've spoken recently I may have mentioned it, but I certainly
    1.49-didn't communicate my intentions well. Now is the time to share those
    1.50-intentions.
    1.51++ Richard Westhaver (ellis@rwest.io)
    1.52++ 29-years-old (he/him)
    1.53++ living in CT
    1.54++ UConn graduate 2016 (economics+philosophy)
    1.55+
    1.56+For most of my life, music has been my muse. I played piano and drums
    1.57+in the school bands, played gigs in the local scene and in college
    1.58+started gravitating towards digital recording, sound design, and the
    1.59+process of making music. I started to recognize all the little things
    1.60+about music that made it so attractive to me: Composition, Rhythm,
    1.61+Design, Creativity... All these fundamental concepts, which weave
    1.62+between eachother to produce a piece of music. It's something I started
    1.63+to think about deeply and apply to other mediums -- most importantly,
    1.64+computers.
    1.65 
    1.66-* Guided Tour
    1.67+Programming, in many ways is music to computers. Programmers /are/
    1.68+musicians. This has been my approach ever since I started learning the
    1.69+basics of Python. After college I began tinkering with Arduino boards,
    1.70+learning about basic NLP models, and building digital synthesizers
    1.71+with Max/MSP. I eventually got a job at a SaaS company in an Agile
    1.72+product support role which was the perfect opportunity for me. I
    1.73+learned all about web applications, software lifecycles, APIs, and the
    1.74+usual cloud infrastructure. In a matter of months I knew what I wanted
    1.75+to do for the rest of my life.
    1.76+
    1.77+For the next few years I worked all day and programmed all night. I
    1.78+became fluent in all things software and was in this sort of crazy
    1.79+cycle, but loved it. Around early 2019 I started working closely with
    1.80+a small group of exceptionally talented developers. We were delivering
    1.81+massive projects for our clients while developing our own R&D
    1.82+department.
    1.83+
    1.84+One day, I was unexpectedly laid off. I would be lying if I didn't
    1.85+admit it was absolutely /soul-crushing/. It was at the beginning of
    1.86+COVID and there was a huge corporate shake-up (brand new C-suite), but
    1.87+for someone like me it's impossible not to internalize that and wonder
    1.88+why. This was a difficult time in my life and it took me quite some
    1.89+time to get back on my feet.
    1.90+
    1.91+On the bright side, I did get to spend some time thinking about /how/
    1.92+I want to program. When you're working 60h+ weeks at a software
    1.93+company, this is something you can rarely afford if at all. I also
    1.94+made an important decision on where I want my career to go - on how I
    1.95+want to make money and participate in the industry. I want to work for
    1.96+myself.
    1.97 
    1.98 * Philosophy
    1.99 ** Computers
   1.100 ** Compilers
   1.101 ** Companies
   1.102-* The Big Idea
   1.103 * Next Steps
   1.104+We have a long way to go. 
   1.105 ** Code
   1.106 ** Services