I am currently employed by WEbook, and this is my disclaimer: This is the personal website of Julio Garcia. The thought, opinions, and ideas expressed here do not reflect those of others or his employers.
Work
I am a web developer currently living in San Jose, California. Previously, I wrapped up a contracts with Adobe and Hitachi Data Systems in Santa Clara where I worked in web production roles. As a web producer, I essentially worked on updating & maintaining the company’s web properties (intranet, extranet, public site), but I also as the main technical developer for their community marketing program, formerly ran by Jeremiah Owyang, the program includes their forums and blogs and podcasts.
Prior to that I worked as a contractor for Knight Ridder Digital as their blog administrator. At the high point I was administering over 100 blogs across all of Knight Ridder’s properties. But honestly, the experience was highly disappointing, there was a golden opportunity to engage with readers and build trust but was wasted by corporate management more interested in selling ads and making money. I was, however, able to meet and work with a lot of great people while there and wish them nothing but the best as Knight Ridder existence comes to an end.
In my 8 years or working on the web, most of my employment has been contract positions at various companies in the Bay Area. I have worked at large companies like Bay/Nortel Networks, Cisco, Apple, to smaller companies like CIDCO, Friend Finder, and Handspring (best job ever). For the most part I prefer contact jobs to permanent positions, but that can always change should the right opportunity arise.
I have to say that I find it funny that all of these “New Media” ideas are A) still being referred to as “new” and B) they are just barely gaining steam in the business world. That is because in 1998, my manager was succeeding in getting our company, Bay Networks, to utilize more of these technologies. We created Real Audio/Video presentation streams for customers, QTVR product presentations to give a 3D look into new products, Flash presentations, and audio/video downloads all as a way to connect with the company’s audience. And this was 8 and 9 years ago, so that is why I might not get excited about some things happening or coming out today.
Personal
I was born in the summer of 1975 in Santa Clara. I attended a couple different schools as my family moved around. There was a time not too long ago that I could remember every teacher and subject I had ever taken from the 2nd grade all the way through my junior year at San Jose State. Now I can barely remember 3rd grade to freshman year in high school. In college I studied Social Science and Information Systems before sticking with Behavioral Science at San Jose State.
I began working with HTML and web sites in 1997 when I created a web site for my hockey team at the time. I even had a “Team News” section (which format I copied from the Tool Page News) that could be called a blog by today’s standards. From there I would have several web sites over the next few years before sticking with this one in 2005.
Life
I have lived in the San Francisco Bay Area my entire life in various cities and towns. Up until the dot-com boom there was probably no better place to live on Earth, but then everything changed. I would like it to go back to how it was, or at the very least head towards a better direction than it is heading now with people only concerned about increasing their property value and selling out other for their own gain. I am not married to San Jose or this general area, so I could easily leave for another nicer and quieter area. If Morgan Hill and Gilroy were not Morgan Hill and Gilroy, I’d move back there a heartbeat, but those cities suffer from the same affliction many people in San Jose have, wanting to be something they are not at any cost.
Interests
Like so many other people I have a wide ranging list of interests. Mine are the web, computers, PHP, film & movies, music, photography, food, news, Baseball, Hockey, video games, and books. Any one of these topics can and probably will be a category or blog post here.
Photography
I have always been interested in photography and in January 2005 I took a big jump into photography by purchasing my first SLR camera, a Nikon D70. The best way I can describe my photography philosophy is to take photos of things that cannot be easily replicated. That means no poses or portraits. Hopefully soon I can afford to move up to a higher end Nikon camera because I really enjoy this hobby.
Blogging
I began blogging in November 2002 on Blogger. Then I moved to MovableType in 2003 which I used until Six Apart’s pricing debacle in 2004 when I switched to Wordpress 1.2. After a few months of using 1.2 I took a break from blogging for a few months and came back in January 2005. At that time I was on a different web host, so when I switched to DreamHost a few months later, I lost all previous entries. Because I switched blog software and hosts a few times, my blog archives only go back several months.
Who I blog for
I blog mainly for myself. I want to record my opinions and findings here for a future read. That, in turn, helps inform other people via links to the post or through search results. I have no interest in being an A-List blogger or getting a lot of hits, if anything I am interested in knowing if what I have to say is of some use to others. The only time I am concerned with hits is if I need to listen to how my thoughts have been perceived and to make sure my bandwidth is under control.
How I blog
I try to blog as honestly and transparently as I can. If there is something I don’t like, I’ll express it. Likewise, if there is something I do enjoy, I’ll let people know. Either way I’ll express myself as I see fit, I can’t care if someone’s feelings are hurt, don’t like the language I use or if readers think I am kissing ass.
I want to be boring. I have no problem with being boring as long as I am informative. I would rather be boring and informative than funny or entertaining and have nothing of substance to say. I now aim to keep my posts dry and dispassionate but as informative possible. Being informative is providing others with the 3 types of information: information that should know, need to know, or want to know. So that is what I hope to be doing.