Software Developer, Media Nut, and Proud Father of Two

Since I have such an awesome job, boss and supervisor, I had the opportunity spend a full week in New Orleans for Thanksgiving. Typically when we travel to New Orleans, it's a weekend trip that starts early Friday morning, but since I have a company provided laptop with wireless broadband, I was able to extend the amount of time I spent there, and as a result, had a much more fulfilling trip. A lot of times Becky and I rush to see one or two people before having to make our trek back home on a Sunday afternoon, not being able to see family and friends outside of the initial visit to their home and at church. I was tempted to extend my visit by a few days since my best friend Anthony's wife is going to have their third child on Wednesday, but I was ready to come back home. Not only did I spend time with family and friends, but I also got to ride in a helicopter and get majorly defeated in UNO by the Queen of UNO (Becky). During some of my down time I decided to become more acquainted with social networking sites, partly for work related research and partly due to curiosity since I have seen and heard plenty of social networking, but never got involved.

The time has come for me to depart from AssignByWeb. While I leave the comfort and security of a job that I have invested so much in, I am moving on to bigger and better things. I'm thankful for what they have done for me, but the grass finally looks greener elsewhere and thanks to my good friend Tim, I have the chance I have been looking for for quite some time now. Next week is my last day, and nothing personal, but I hope it will be the last time I have to work for them. While there are plenty of negative things I could say, I won't. They have done plenty of good for me, and while there is a lot of history between us, it is finally coming to an end. I will not be burning any bridges since I'm too nice of a guy to do such a thing, almost, arguably, to a fault.

What a crazy, and tiring, night. It started with Becky and I hanging out with some of our neighbors. As the night went on, the wind grew strong and the rain more drenching. They both beat against my house ferociously, and the power finally went out at 4AM. It was rough going to sleep with all that wind hitting my house constantly, and I don't remember any storm being that violent that I sat through. I didn't get much sleep during the early morning hours because of the storm, so I frequently looked outside and checked the radio to see what was going on. By noon time, the worst of the storm was long gone and we had remnants of the storm's tail end giving us rain and wind.

Over the last year, heck, the last six months, I've been told by a few people that I should start my own business. The thought of starting and running my own business does not sound like the kind of challenge I'm up for. There's create the company, properly handling the finances so that the company money is separate from my personal money, lawyers for the overly and meticulously worded contracts, fees, registrations, filing, and then, enter a boat load of sarcasm, my most favorite part of all: finding new work. My other option is going with a sole proprietorship, which pretty much avoids all of that nonsense. However, as an employee of a company that has their own sales staff, I don't have to worry about that kind of stuff.

I put a notice of sorts in about two weeks ago that I was looking for another job. I had a few promising leads at the time, but they have ultimately lead to disappointment, and with one, utter frustration. Early in June I was contacted by a job recruiter (on a Saturday of all days) about a six month contract to hire position with Chevron as a front end developer, with a little bit of server side. One of the requirements was that the developer be able to hand code valid XHTML, CSS, ASP and JS code; so they wanted a person that didn't depend on a WYSIWYG editor. This was perfect because I hate using programs that write my code for me and I enjoy doing front end development. By the end of our conversation the job recruiter and I were convinced that I was exactly what Chevron wanted. Or so we thought.

I'm a weebit late on this, but here goes: Introducing Anna Marie Miller!

More photos can be seen at my Flickr account.

Telecommuting jobs rock, not to be confused with an employer rocking. I love working from home, but I am becoming unhappy with my employer. I greatly appreciate all they have done for me in the past, but I can't help but get the feeling of being, at times, undervalued and witnessing plans being taken that make me say enough is enough (sorry, no details). Because of this I am weighing my job options. Living in the fourth largest city in the US, surely I should be able to find a job that would be fitting to my needs. I admit that I am a little picky about where I work and whom I work for, especially since I've been working from home for almost three of the last four years.

A collection of my previous work, both freelance and as an employee.

Hello, hallo, hola, and bonjour! My name is Matthew Miller and welcome to my site. I am a Senior Developer for Stayhealthy, Inc. and a freelance web developer for various churches and organizations. I love what I do, whether it's writing JavaScript, CSS, XHTML, PHP, or even learning a new programming language. If you want to contact me for a chat or for some help, feel free; if I'm unable to help, you will likely get a response of "one sec," which may lead to a 30+ minute wait. If you're interested in seeing my formal resume in Word or PDF format, please contact me.

Where I've Been

• StayHealthy, Inc.
  October 2008to Present - Senior Developer