Greetings!
My name is Robert Sale. I’m a Computer Science student at Full Sail University, creator of FieldFab for iOS, a father, tech lover, and fun haver! My journey began 18 years ago when I downloaded Garry’s Mod 8.4b and began writing LUA scripts for fun. LUA was a bit challenging for me as I had no prior experience with programming, but I made a few game modes and I even used Garry’s Mod to create presentations for my high school German and English classes (can be found on Youtube if you look hard enough). I became a junior engineer for the US Navy and sailed the deep blue for 5 years. During that time I didn’t do much programming and had forgotten pretty much everything I learned because without an active internet connection out at sea there’s no way to look up code documentation or download new compilers/frameworks. I stopped sailing and became a father soon after. I picked up programming again using Python and Kivy, at which point I made a Linux GUI frontend for NordVPN which up until last year was available on the Ubuntu Snapcraft store. I began working at an HVAC company as a service technician and everyone at the company used Apple products, so in 2020 I decided to buy my first Apple product: the MacBook Air. I loved it so much I now exclusively use Apple computers as my choice to develop software. While doing HVAC I discovered the process of building duct transitions and found that unless you’re a seasoned veteran it is practically impossible to build the perfect transition by hand. I decided I was going to make an iOS app that would help me with the calculations, drawing the cutting lines for the ductwork in a CAD-like fashion, so I could compete with our seasoned fabricators. My app was a huge success! A long time friend from high school saw my app and asked me if I could teach him some of the basics of programming in C# for one of his classes at Full Sail University. Him and his friends were inspired by my story and ability to teach them programming, and they encouraged me to come and get my degree. Thanks to them I mustered up the courage to turn my dream into a reality and apply to Full Sail’s Computer Science Bachelors degree program.
Now that I’m here, 5 months away from graduation, I am working on my final project. It’s been a long journey spanning across many years of uncertainty, but I’m excited to finally be here. Right now I’m an Industrial PLC Programmer for Columbia Fruit, but once I get my degree I’m hoping to get a job that is more geared towards general purpose computer science or computer engineering. I also have some other projects I’m working on that may be an opportunity to start my own company some day.
Thank you for reading! Tune in for another exciting blog post in the near future!
