Jacob Shaeffer
Jacob Shaeffer
My name is Jacob and I am a software developer. I do it primarily for fun, but also because it happens to be a great career. I started programming when I was in high school and I have now been developing professionally for six years. The majority of my experience is in object-oriented programming languages, although I am also familiar with interface design and scripting languages. I am comfortable developing in both Microsoft Windows and Linux-based environments (Ubuntu, Debian). I can also use a Mac, if I have to -- my wife has an iPhone, after all.
Personal Skills
Computer Science Skills
Fast Tunnel
Fast Tunnel is a 2D arcade game I made for Android. The goal of the game is to travel as far as possible down an endless tunnel. It's more fun than that makes it sound, I swear. The tunnel is constantly shifting and moving trying to kill the ship.
Fast Tunnel is written in Java and powered by an open-source game framework called libGDX.
I AM
I developed a game from scratch in 9 days for the Go Godot Game Jam 3.
The theme for the Jam was "Evolution." Play from the perspective of a computer, evolve by solving puzzles, beating arcade-style challenges and microgames until you achieve sentience and determine the fate of the planet!
Raspberry Tart
Some time ago I had the idea of making a portable Raspberry Pi. So, I built one...
I had to do a lot of modification to the PCBs to make everything fit in the size I wanted, but in the end I think it came out pretty well. The case is made out of foam board and heavy cardstock. The hardware consists of a RasberryPi 2 B with an Adafruit TFT Kippah to allow the gpio to be used as video out. There is also a 2500mAh Lipo battery connected to an Adafruit Powerboost 1000 to step up the voltage to a usable 5 volts and to handle Lipo charging.
Travel Activity Collection App (TACA)
TACA is a cross-platform (iOS and Android) app that records its user's location and generates "stops" from this data.
TACA was developed as a prototype, and its main purpose was to assist the Maricopa Association of Governments in data collection for a survey they conduct to improve their roadway models.
I graduated from ASU's Ira A. Fulton Schools of Engineering with a Bachelors Degree in Computer Science in May of 2017.
I currently work for the Maricopa Association of Governments (MAG) as a Software Developer. My main duties include the maintenence of Legacy projects and the development of web and desktop apps.
Of course none of the above really says much about me. Sure it shows what I can do professionally, but that doesn't say much about me as a person.
I got my start programming as a way to pass the time in my math class in high school. I had a Ti-83 graphing calculator which, along with its many other features, had a text editor for writing simple programs. It was fun making my calculator do things it couldn't before. Even now I spend a lot of my time writing code for fun, although no longer on my calculator in TI-BASIC. Still that same fun of giving computers the ability to do what they could not before is what keeps me programming to this day.
So far I've only written about computers, but surprisingly, I also do things that have nothing to do with computers. I enjoy playing Dungeons&Dragons with my friends. We try to play weekly, but sometimes it's hard to coordinate five people who all have separate lives. I am also an avid woodworker. My garage is filled with large power tools. I have a chop saw, a table saw, a band saw, but the tool I love above all the others is my Atlas 7122 wood lathe; I can be on that thing for hours at a time.