About Me

Welcome to my home page! My name is Jonathan Van Eenwyk. Right now, I'm 24 years old, working in Boulder, Colorado for Qualcomm as an embedded software engineer. I really enjoy what I do, and I also enjoy the mountains, both the scenery (you should see the sunsets!) and for recreation.

History

I was born in Grand Rapids, Michigan in 1983, but only lived there for about two years. When I was three, my family (parents and one brother) moved to England, where my parents studied for one year. We then moved to China, where I lived until going to college at age 19. My brother and I went to college together for one year at Johnson County Community College in Kansas City (or, more precisely, Overland Park). After one year, we temporarily parted ways: I went on to the University of Kansas to study Computer Engineering, while my brother spent one year in Tennessee studying computer graphics and completing an internship (long story). My brother joined me in 2004, and I completed my Bachelor's in May 2006. I continued at KU studying for my Master's (also in Computer Engineering) and finished in May 2007, and my brother finished his Bachelor's at the same time.

Interests

Here are a few of my interest areas.

Computers

Computers is most probably my main interest area. I first started using computers when I was seven, with my Dad's first laptop—a huge, cream-colored Zenith (black-n-white display, no hard drive, maybe ZFL-181-92). From there, we "advanced" to a Toshiba laptop (also black-n-white), then to a grey Zenith laptop (color display, maybe Z-noteflex P). When these died (primarily screen problems), we got our first desktop—a Pentium 100Mhz Gateway 2000. Many computers later, our whole family is still very much attached to computers.

For the first few years, my brother and I mainly used computers for gaming (and, of course, school work). When I was thirteen, I became interested in programming. Having received the book The Beginner's Guide to Visual Basic 4.0 from a friend, I began what has become a virtually life-long quest for knowledge. I have posted many of my first programming projects here. After learning Visual Basic, I went on to learn a host of other languages (ASP, C/C++, HTML, Java(Script), Perl, PHP and others).

Electronics

Since "my early years," I have had a keen interest in electronics. I especially enjoy controlling things with computers to make something automated. This is the primary reason why I chose to study Computer Engineering. My largest personal project so far was to build a device that could control a house-power device using the computer. The signal sent from the computer using the parallel port would activate whatever was plugged into the device's outlet. Very cool stuff!

Music

In 2003, I gained an interest in music production when I started helping out at my (now former) Church controlling the sound board that blends all the instruments and vocalists that play during worship. I really enjoyed it. Growing up, I'd practiced the piano and recorder, but never got particularly good at either. Managing the sound-board required that I pick up an ear for what sounds good, blending harmonies, instruments and all that. It was a real challenge, but very worth it. I really enjoyed listening to the wonderful music and worshipping all at the same time.

Resume

If you would like more specifics about my education/skills, please check out my resume.