Who is this Ashot guy?
Firstly, call me Ash if you prefer. I’ve heard Ashot pronounced many different ways, but people usually get Ash right (unless you’re working a register; I’m not cool enough to be called Cash [still pretty cool though]).
Secondly, yes I realize I use semicolons suspiciously often; no that’s not because AI is writing for me. Unless I have reason not to, I type like I speak, and I’ve long ago internalized semicolons as an ideal stand-in for “medium-length pauses in speech”. I genuinely use semicolons less now because people often see them as a sign of AI but I won’t hold back on this site given it’s my site.
Humble Beginnings
I’m just a person who loves learning about, making, and deconstructing complex systems! Nowadays, primarily software systems but it didn’t start that way. A few decades ago I was born; I didn’t work with complex systems back then though. Years later my journey began with countless lego and lego-style toys from which I loved making contraptions. Later I loved learning about the constructed environment around us from my dad’s construction sites (perhaps unwise, but I was mostly supervised). This love of complexity also naturally meant I was quite good in my science classes; there’s no more complex a system than the basis of the world around us after all.
Once I entered high school and joined my school’s competitive robotics team I started getting some serious engineering intuition by designing parts and assemblies with CAD, making models to 3D print, and just generally putting things together. Also at high school I discovered a love for 3D animation and especially rigging models, the part everyone hates because it’s tedious and complicated (yum). And if I don’t sound nerdy enough yet I did greatly enjoy my competitive cartography club too (yes, that’s a thing). All of these disciplines were fun for me and could have easily become the basis for a career come college, but I decided to ambitiously aim for something at the heart of these. Behind every complicated system thus far was an even more complicated piece of software, so with minimal exposure to programming I decided to aim for a computer science degree.
As it turns out, computer science was a good call! This is the exact kind of domain where I get to enjoy complex systems from every angle in addition to the complexity inherited by whatever the software tackles.
So what does that mean about me to someone with only a few minutes to look at this page who desires a bulleted list to break it down? Well…
- Loves finding the inherent complexity in things
- Doesn’t love needless complexity (I like having only as many moving parts as needed to reach an outcome)
- Formally trained in computer science but decently versed in other hard sciences
- Mechanically minded and knows a lot about how many things work
- Flexible thinker good at connecting disparate ideas together in useful ways
Okay, but what about professionally?
Right, right, if you’re here it’s probably because you’re evaluating my fitness for [Professional Activity]. I’ll refer you to my resume stage right as the best place to get an idea, but outside of that I’m proud of being an egoless engineer. My goal when working is to get my job done to the utmost satisfaction of whomever it’s for. Both personally and professionally I put great value in seeing things from another’s shoes and that pays dividends in both places.
I probably should say more than that to bolster my case, but how often do you want to read someone wax poetic about their technical brilliance? Regardless, if you have any particular questions I’m always happy to answer.
Quickfire Facts
- Good at drawing; I’m no artist but I know my way around a pencil
- Love cars, but more mechanically speaking than with regard to specific makes and models
- Terrible taste in music, just awful
- Had a Dungeons & Dragons campaign span 3 years of weekly sessions
- Modified a Peltier fridge with a Noctua fan and a fan speed controller because the noise bothered me
- Watches long-form content on technical topics to relax
- Thinks space is cool; automated a Mars mission in Kerbal Space Program
