The story of how I became "creationix" the open-source hacker. I discuss my history of programming mixed with family life and give tips for work/life balance.

1. How I Became Creationix
Life Hack
October 2, 2015

2. 1982
● The Commodore 64 - 8-bit PC
● Intel 80286 - 16-bit CPU
● Tron - the first movie with CG
● Electronic Arts (EA) is founded
● Tim Caswell is born...

6. QBasic
10 years of
programming QBasic
Before the web existed.

7. SORCERER.BAS
My own
implementation of
Ultimate Wizard.
https://github.
com/creationix/basic-
games

8. The Web
● Internet (Dial Up)
● Web Browsers
● HTML
● JavaScript

12. 1982
8-bit computers, games,
BASIC
1990
16-bit computers, DOS,
QBasic
1995
Web Browsers, HTML,
JavaScript
2003
PHP, Python, Ruby,
Meetups
2009
Node.JS, Conference
Talks, Social Media,
Blog Posts
Mission

13. Family Man
Payin’ the Bills
● Digital Production at Print Shop
● Got Married and moved.
● Wrote app in Java!
● Then did IT at a Bank.
● Moved back to Texarkana.
● Went back to print shop.
● First child born.
● Then IT for the Newspaper.
● Moved to Dallas for school.
● Temp work linux admin.

14. Family Man
Payin’ the Bills
● Temp work linux admin.
● Real programming job doing
Python.
● Full-Stack PHP + Web job.
● Freelance work.
● Second child born.
● Ruby Job.
● Document Cloud (backbone.js)
● Back to full-stack shop.
● Finally finished Bachelor's of
Science

17. Internet Fame
The Rise and Fall
● Moved to Palo Alto, CA.
● Worked at Sencha, node.js job.
● Conferences, podcasts, meetups.
● Worked at HP/Palm (WebOS)
● Moved back to Texas.
● Third child born.
● Worked remote on Cloud9 IDE
● JS-Git on Kickstarter
● Work remote for Rackspace.
● Fourth child born.
● Done traveling and speaking.

18. Maintaining a Work / Life Balance
● Minimal commute
● Work from home
● Set office hours
● Office out of house
● Use vacation
● Limit travel
● Continue Hobbies
● Church / Community
● Wash the Dishes
● Mow the lawn (2-acres)
● Play with kids
● Parent during breakfast / bedtime
● Hack at night when quiet.
● But not every night, sleep too.
● Don’t maintain all code!
● Always be Learning!

19. Tools of the Trade
I like it simple
● Atom Editor
○ clang linter
○ luacheck linter
○ jshint linter
● OSX
○ iTerm
● Linux
○ Gnome-terminal

20. Test all the Things
I collect gadgets (budgeted)
● Firefox, Chrome, IE, Safari, Edge
● OSX, Linux, Windows,
ChromeOS, FreeBSD
● Laptop, Desktop, Tablet, Phone
● Raspberry PI, Arduino
● Microcontrollers and 3D Printer!

22. Creation
...is your opportunity in this life.

23. Creationix
...is what I’m doing.

24. What will you create?