Chris Olin

multi-faceted IT engineer and data nerd with a penchant for epistemology, power tools, and two-wheeled vehicles

  • Intro
  • Projects
  • About
  • Contact

Intro

It was by complete coincidence that a professional photographer was at the Washington Monument during a blizzard at the exact same moment in time I biked over there.

The nature of an introduction should be short and to the point, so forgive my brevity.

I have indirectly become a transportation advocate after getting into utility cycling in 2010, keeping with it after getting hit by a taxi in 2013, and ultimately moving to Washington, DC/selling my car in 2015. I've been commuting primarily by bike since then. I studied computer networking/systems administration with a focus on security in school (pre-2010) after having run various Linux distributions throughout high school and taught myself basic C++ data types/logic with a book, a school laptop, and MinGW on a USB flash drive (pre-2007).

After years of working various entry to mid level technical and software support jobs, I started teaching myself/trying to make sense of computer science fundamentals and object oriented programming design patterns. Starting around mid-2018, I've been finding the time to pursue personal and professional interests in teaching myself Python and JavaScript with measurable progress, alongside GIS, AI (convolutional neural networks), and video editing. In addition to this website, check out some of my recent work below.

Projects

I started teaching myself Linux in the mid-2000s while in high school, eventually familiarizing myself with BASH and basic POSIX commands/utilities, ultimately installing Linux (Gentoo) on my laptop at the time entirely via a shell prompt. I had to partition and format the drive, set up the file/directory structure, extract the kernel tarball, install and configure the bootloader without a fancy GUI doing it all for me (true story, I had to go back and start from scratch a few times before I got it to boot). Let's not even talk about setting up an X server or getting wifi working.

In the early 2010s, I lurked on XDA Developers and was semi-active in the AOSP/CyanogenMod Android framework projects. Not having much of a programming background outside of BASH and basic C++ at the time, I wasn't able to do much. I did learn how to use Git and familiarize myself with build environments and different build scripts/tooling in addition to Android firmware flashing/fundamentals, which helped me gain the knowledge to help repair many seemingly broken or "bricked" Android smartphones over the years.

Since 2016, I've been working alongside Bike Index, a national 501(c)(3) non-profit that maintains educational content teaching people how to prevent their bicycle from being stolen along with a free open source webapp that allows anyone to report and search for stolen bicycles (and one of the recoveries I helped facilitate made it into the local news).

Starting early 2017, I've been indirectly working on and off with Rochester Cycling Alliance, Reconnect Rochester, and Dream Bikes, having helped facilitate and/or organize various cycling related activities/events/rides in the downtown Rochester, NY area.

About

I have curated a YouTube playlist over the years that is probably the most genuine way of conveying what kind of person I'm "about", what interests me, what I think other people should know, etc. I've included some highlights below.

For those who still prefer written content, know that I'm no different than probably most of the people reading this. I'm just a human trying to survive on this planet/function in this 21st century society. I have a life story, likes, dislikes, strengths, weaknesses, admirable traits, bad habits, achievements, mistakes, my own code of ethics, morals, and values formed over many years of life experiences and the works of various enlightened, influential thinkers. If you really want to hear it all, buy me a beer sometime.

Contact

I'm going to commit heresy and come out and say that email is so 20th century, but you can find it on my Github profile if you absolutely must reach me via email.

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