Meet Joshua, the tech virtuoso at Ascendion who’s not your typical engineer. He is a Senior Associate Engineer at Ascendion. Joshua is happily engaged to his high school sweetheart for 13 remarkable years, sharing their life with two quirky rescued cats, Risky and ‘Little Dove.’ When he’s not deciphering the code at Ascendion, Joshua is on a quest to craft his own MMO game, learn Japanese, and nurture a burgeoning garden filled with watermelons, carrots, and pineapples. His friends sum him up in three words: smart, Boba tea aficionado, and Starbucks enthusiast. Join us as we delve into Joshua’s world of code, culture, and caffeine-fueled creativity in the Ascendion adventure!
It all began when I was just a young lad. My father introduced me to the world of technology through video games. My passion for technology ignited with one of the most popular games of the 90s: Super Mario World. As I progressed through life, I gained access to one of the standout online games of the century, Runescape. It was this game that I
discovered my love for programming in Java, during the challenging days of high school.
I went to the University of Houston, Clear Lake to pursue a degree in Computer Engineering because I was curious about how programming languages interacted with electronics. After graduation, I endeavored to enhance my expertise in C# by creating an application to automate gameplay in a video game. I dubbed this creation “The Automated Game Player.”
While I achieved the initial set of functionalities, I continue to revisit the project periodically, incorporating new methods, features, and improvements to the user interface and experience.
Continuing my learning journey, I joined a program called Jump by Cognixia, an Ascendion company. The curriculum encompassed programming languages like Java and JavaScript, as well as frameworks such as Spring, Springboot, React, and Angular. My training entailed working with databases like MySQL and MongoDB, alongside cloud services including Amazon Web Services’ EC2 Instances and S3 Buckets.
Fast forward to 2021, I joined Ascendion as an Associate Engineer, where I have received multiple awards for my work. Within two years, I even earned a promotion to Senior Associate Engineer, thanks to my peers who aways recognized the value I brought to the projects.
I currently work on Ascendion AVA, a platform that uses AI ML to help clients. I have a passion for coding efficiently and creating innovative solutions to problems. This where being a jack of all trades pays off. I can perform various tasks, such as developing UIs, front and back ends, and DevOps work. It was incredibly satisfying and fun working on various modules of Ascendion’s AVA.
Most of my work contributed to the efficient performance of these modules. Some of the notable ones are –
One of the challenges I face at work is researching unfamiliar topics. This includes finding solutions for cloud-based analytics technologies and processing data using various algorithms to stay ahead of the game. I often turn to resources like Stack Overflow to gather information before beginning the development and implementing solutions for customer issues.
Additionally, locating information on Azure APIs can be difficult, as there is limited information available for most of the DevOps tasks we undertake. My main challenge is piecing together all the necessary information to make everything work seamlessly.
While I conduct most of my research alone, I do seek assistance from Krishnendu and Jeffrey when necessary. Jeffrey is my go-to for DevOps, like Docker and Kubernetes. Krishnendu is my Java expert. They’re like mentors, guiding me when I’m stuck or facing problems in solving issues and implementing services.
At Ascendion, we all feel like a big family because they genuinely care about their employees. Working remotely provides me with a good work-life balance, as it allows me to pursue my interests outside of work. As my introduction mentions, I am particularly interested in gaming, and during my free time, I am actively working towards my goal of becoming a game developer. I am currently developing my own MMO using C++, C#, and Unity, and I am excited to see my creation come to life.
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