My work experience is diverse. I started working collaboratively with others in my research during my time at the University of California San Diego. I was part of the REACToR research group that keeps working on improving cloud computing services with the integration of optical circuit switches to produce hybrid data centers. I learned many things from my mentors and took that experience with me to my summer internship at Datastax. My internship experience was interesting in that all my colleagues and managers worked remotely. I learned how to become a more efficient communicator and I got to practice being self driven.
After those great experiences, I continued school and research with an optical lasers lab at UCSD. I was tasked with producing a framework written in Python that would enable my lab partner to run tests using multiple instruments and gather data. I looked to take it further and aid in the graphing of such data by incorporating libraries like Matplotlib and Numpy.
Close to the end of my tenure at UCSD, I was afforded the opportunity to study abroad for a semester. After some consideration I chose to study at Lund University in Sweden, about 1 hour train ride from Copenhagen, Denmark. Lund University is historically known as an engineering university with a superb computer engineering department. I wanted to experience learning computer science elsewhere in the world and was excited to take an intro course in artificial intelligence and a course on functional programming.
I met many people during my six months in Sweden and travelling around Europe. I got a glimpse of a much larger world, a world that should be more connected. My goal is to be a part of that.
I want to contribute to the world wide web, I want to make a difference. I graduated with the idea of possibly returning to school for a masters or PhD. The great experiences I had during my research convinced me that I will be back. I currently work as a software tester, doing some automation using Selenium and Appium along side functional testing. The next step for me is to join a company that values technology for what it can do for us and encourages innovation and collaboration.
Anything that has to do with creating, even better if I can eat it or drink it. My friends and I make beer every few months, I'm a big fan of hoppy beers. Belgium is in my top 3 cities I visited during my studies abroad for the diversity of food and beer alone. Food is another great thing I experienced abroad even with all the walking I did, I gained a few pounds during my travels.
My love for cooking does not end in the kitchen, in the summer 2017 I decided I wanted to smoke a turkey for Thanksgiving. So I went down to the local scrap yard and after sourcing a free 55 gallon steel drum from Craigslist, I got started on an offset smoker. Aesthetics of the smoker are not the best at the moment, but I have a group of friends that can attest to the delicious juicy ribs and smokey pulled pork that the smoker can make. This year's goal is to complete the look and improve some of the faults that became apparent after a few smoking sessions.
Cooking daily for dinner and next day's lunch is my meditation for the day. I love it, I strive to improve every time I turn the stove on. With that comes the need to go shopping every week. There's no one lazier than me when it comes to that. I aim to smooth that over with my latest project, Project Raspberry. Meal planning and simple shopping lists is the goal.
Cliche as it may be, I love getting my hands dirty, it's a good change of pace to the virtual world I work in. Whether it is trying to get a project car working or helping fix a relative's car, I will be there. My parent's driveway is dubbed the "Sanchez Auto Shop" by some of my closest friends.
Back in 2015, I had a 1981 Toyota Corolla parked in the driveway for a few months while I took apart the engine. I replaced and restored every bolt and gasket in that engine. It is poised to run for another 34 years. The restored roaring engine soon wrecked havoc on other components and the transmission blew out on me while I was driving in the highway. That also got fixed at the Sanchez Auto Shop.
As the Corolla was a weekend project, I started to learn how to weld in order to fabricate parts on it. I made a custom set of coil overs to lower the car and give it a face lift. Unfortunately, after getting back from studying abroad I decided to sell it before the next smog inspection. California doesn't like old cars with outdated emissions and the first time I went through it was enough to not make me deal with it again.
Now I occasionally browse Craigslist and other market places for future projects. Perhaps something pre-1975 or some poor old beaten Porsche in need of love and care.