About Me

Who am I?

My name is Owen Loy, and I'm a Vancouver* based PHP Developer.

I've spent the better part of the last decade working for a web hosting company, which allowed me to explore a number of roles, from tech support junkie, to web development, to systems administration, to security issues prevalent in the industry.

I've decided to finally blog, after resisting it since day 1. My reasons to blog (and really to not have blogged before) are entirely selfish. I've always been afraid of a comment 10 years ago continuing to haunt you in this age of perpetual, readily available information.

However, I think it's time to focus specifically on web development, as it's the area I've always enjoyed the most.

This blog then, really is a journey of me getting back into it, as my last 3-4 years were spent largely in a systems administrator role, putting out mini fires left and right. (Perhaps we'll get into that at a later date).

In my web development roles I've built a helpdesk system for said web hosting company, which supported 10,000 clients at it's peak. An updated version of the software was used internally for a small grocery chain in Australia as well.

I have also worked on custom e.commerce installations, providing a backend system to integrate credit card payment processing and shipping information via UPS.

So really, yet another tech blog?

Yes, basically. Where I hope to be slightly different, is to offer some of my perspectives as a somewhat atypical web developer, coloured with my experiences as a systems administrator, and my formal education in business. Ultimately though, when it comes down to it, I'm addicted to learning new things.

Although my professional interests cover a lot of ground, from web development to LAMP based systems administration to business processes, I've always had a passion for "hands on" work.

Anyhow, starting a new blog is always intimidating, as it's much like having a conversation with yourself in a little white room. Oh well, everyone likes a bit of crazy, right?

* That's Vancouver, BC, Canada, not the other versions.