My name is Jake Strawn, and I'm a professional web developer . I have been in the industry learning & growing for the past 11 years now, started out in the dialup ISP industry, and over a decade later, have ended up on the technical end of building functional web applications and websites for various types & levels of clients throughout the world.

Over the last few years of really trying to expand my portfolio and clientele, I've basically give up on most of my hobbies, but in the past, I was huge into Basketball, loved Snowboarding in Steamboat Springs where I graduated school, and spent the better part of a decade before moving to the Denver area.

It has become my goal in the past months to make an effort to expatriate from the US, and find work overseas. Sounds kind of funny, as tons of people around the world are dying to get into the United States for work, and I'm dying to get out. Luckily in my industry, and with my skills, I am able to truly work in a global office. I've been 100% self-employeed for about 7 out of the last 10 years, and while still not rich, have been able to at least move forward without the constraints of normal office life.

With that type of industry, I've now decided that I will be doing everything possible to move the the EU, and spend the next decade or so of my life there barring any problems, I am currently pursuing full time employment in many major areas including London, Paris, Amsterdam, and other major European metro areas. I am also keeping open the option of being able to move there without visa sponsorship on my own dime should a full time position not play out the way I hope.

For the main part, I'm a Web Developer, with a extensive background in PHP/MySQL, and have over the past several years, went back to the drawing board, and established my skills as a Web Designer. Anyone in the industry knows that there is a large difference there, and while I've always designed my own sites, they used to be sites that a fellow designer/programmer would have been able to say "that was designed by a programmer". However, with tons of study, and practice, I am now able to design sites that rival and exceed a large group of designers that may have a formal education on things like color theory, graphical design, and who don't have any formal experience with backend systems. Essentially, I have been able to expand my skill set to encompass everything involved in a web project from design to development, and even encompassing the business end as well when the time requires it.

I hope to continue my work in the industry, and some day I will finally hit that "bright idea" that could take off, and be the next big thing that Google buys for a few billion dollars. Although, with the value of the US dollar, I think I'd want to take my payment in Euros or British Pounds.