Hey 👋🏼, I’m @MistbornOne - otherwise known as Ian Watkins.
I'm the dad of 5 humans and 3 dogs who lives in Knoxville, TN and loves the outdoors, a good cup of coffee and a better book. I am a follower of Jesus. Major nerd (just ask my wife) and a sales executive who loves to build software. I'm an ex-professional chef and BBQ enthusiast. I'm a fitness junkie that lost 180 pounds in a year, then helped others hit their goals. I am a creative at heart and storyteller by nature.
I'm currently studying backend development through Boot Dev and loving every minute of it.
I've been around computers and interested in technology most of my life. I started tinkering back when the internet was still on dial up 👴🏼.
In 2015 I learned Javascript, HTML, and CSS for the first time, built some projects that I unfortunately no longer have access to, and life took another turn.
For the past few years I've been getting digging into AI 🤖, which is what drove me to learn Python to begin with.
Since taking this journey on earlier this year, I've built:
- Tons of shell scripts (in my dotfiles) 🖥️
- A few games 🎮
- Several portfolio websites 1 2 3 🛜
- A few
golangprojects 🌟 - My own Code Tutor using OpenAI SDK and Python. 🧙🏼♂️
- Plus many more...
My decade plus of sales and executive leadership experience, combined with my love for programming and creating things is what allows me to execute well. At first I thought my professional experience had no benefit for my coding journey. What does sales and leadership have to do with building software?
A LOT it turns out.
One major aspect of developing software that solves problems is... well, understanding real business or life problems that need to be solved. Combine this with the fact that being able to talk to customers, identify their pain points, then create and present solutions in a manner that moves the needle is often a gap in a dev's skillset, but right in my wheelhouse.
You can reach me via email if you want to collaborate on a project or find out more.