introduction

I realize that, through the course of this blog, I haven’t really taken the time to talk about myself. I’ve mentioned my name (Keegan), but that’s about it. It’s a bit of a cop out as far as the requirements for my class blog goes, but still, I’d like to take the time to introduce myself once more.

Hi!, I’m Keegan Taylor

I’m a fourth year game design student at RIT, with a minor in computer science. I came to RIT originally for the Game Design program as it’s recognized as one of the best in the country, and I really wanted to make games, so it seemed like a good fit. I use the past tense there because I have been slightly scared away from the video game industry by horror stories of overwork and minimal compensation. The industry was painted to me as a place that can be vicious, asking a lot out of its employees because it can, because they are expected to be there out of passion for the work, not for any other incentive. These stories scared me into believing I wasn’t passionate enough about games to join the industry so I began to focus more on computer theory through my CS minor, as well as web development through Game design related courses.

Currently, I’m working part time at the RIT tech crew setting up lights, sound, and power for events of all shapes and sizes across the campus. Tech Crew is great for their flexible hours, which makes it slightly easier to work a decent number of hours a week while still juggling a full class load. While the work I do for the crew is fun, I know for sure I want to do something more closely related to my major. With graduation looming, I’m still working on trying to figure out exactly what it is i’ll be doing once the college experience is behind me. I’m not sure where I’ll end up yet, but I’m optimistic that everything will work out fine.

Finally, to make somewhat of an attempt to bring in open source with all of this, I’d like to talk about my experience with the HFOSS class so far. HFOSS has been a very enlightening experience. I took this class without much prior experience in open source. HFOSS is a rich experience in that this class is an introduction to a culture, as well as the ideologies and technologies that define that culture. I was not expecting this experience when i signed up for the class. I was expecting something with more of a focus on writing code, specifically open source code. I was right, in a sense. We’re learning what it means to be open source code, and why that matters, and to who. I thought you just wrote code and declared ‘open source’ like Michael Scott from the office. If you’ve been reading my blog up to this point, You’ll know I’ve learned that’s not the case. There’s so much more to Open Source than just being free, and I think it’s very important to have an understanding of how this ecosystem works, even if you choose to not support it.