Hi—I’m Joey Sikes.

I’ve been curious about computers and gadgets as far back as I can remember. I still vividly remember the first personal computer my dad purchased, a 2001 Knowledge System that came out in 1994. It was a multi-purpose machine made by QMS®, nicknamed The Taco. The Taco was a monstrous computer with a 33MHz 486 processor, about 500MB of disk space, and a 14.4K dial-up modem. It also had a fax machine, a color laser printer, and a scanner shoved into that 50-pound box. This computer led to my first experience online. Browsing the Mobile Area Freenet, a bulletin board system that existed from the early to mid-’90s.

As time passed, I continued to take an interest in the Internet. In middle school, I’d study the files Microsoft FrontPage generated to learn HTML. I’d tweak things using the UI and see what changed in the output. Eventually, I got some books and realized how poorly FrontPage generated code. My newly discovered skills led to a paid gig for a local business organization. I set up and then maintained the website for $50 a month, which I did for about two years. That’s a lot of money when you’re 12. Ultimately, I got into PHP and graphic arts by the time I was in high school. Two very different interests before a UI engineer was a thing.

By my senior year, I decided I wanted to study graphic arts or web design at college. To my surprise, I found a degree that combined the two. So, I signed up and received my degree in Graphic Arts & Web Design. Luckily, I scored a paid internship while taking my college courses. My training allowed me to practice design and development skills professionally. After graduating, I was offered a full-time position to design, develop, and launch a new company website.

Since that time, I’ve had the opportunity to work with some fantastic companies using various tech stacks. I now work at a Fortune 20 company and use React to create web apps that help medical professionals. React is a fantastic tool for developing sustainable web apps, and I enjoy working with it. As always, I continue to learn and get training to help develop myself as a UI engineer.

Design and development have become real passions of mine over the years. I started this blog to share some of that passion with others. Check out my blog to read about new things I’ve learned, some of my favorite techniques when tackling everyday situations in development, and design-related topics. I also plan to throw in some gadget reviews.

Get in touch

You can reach me here and on Twitter.