Home some say home is where the heart is
Background
I was born and raised in South Africa. We moved to New Zealand when I was 15 years old and have been living in NZ ever since. I now live just outside of Hamilton on a lifestyle property.
I have always had a keen interest in computers. I started playing games before I was 4 after dad showed me my way around Norton Commander and booting directly into games using pre-made boot disks.
About This Site
This site is built using simple, clean HTML and CSS with no build system or dependencies. It's designed to be future-proof and easy to maintain.
The design is responsive and works on all modern browsers without requiring any JavaScript frameworks.
Profile about me, education, sports, hobbies, and other interests
Education
I passed 7th form (year 13) in 2003. My highest qualifications were in physics, calculus and statistics.
In 2004 I started my degree in Bachelor of Software Engineering, which is a 4 year course. During the 4 year course, Massey University offered me a slightly different degree, which later replaced their BE Soft Eng degree completely.
I decided that I would change to the new degree which is Bachelor of Information Sciences Joint Major in Software Engineering. In doing this, I was able to graduate a year earlier with an equivalent degree, which enabled me to start my career one year earlier in 2006.
Sport
Running. I run most days during lunch time. My personal best 5KM time is 23:15.
Cycling. I enjoy cycling and follow the three grand tours: Tour de France, Giro d'Italia, and La Vuelta a España.
Fishing. I love all sorts of fishing, especially fly fishing out in the middle of nowhere.
Target Shooting. I enjoy shooting at targets from a good distance. I usually hit!
Squash. I enjoy a good game of squash. I haven't played in any competitions, only social games.
Poker. No Limit Hold'em has been my favorite. I enjoy playing in competitions and have done reasonably well.
Hobbies and Other Interests
Photography could have easily been my full time job. I enjoy taking photos of just about anything. I would have to say though that my favorite is sports photography.
DIY and Building. I love working on projects in the garage, including woodworking and metal working.
Car audio system design and installation. I'm mostly interested in Sound Quality installations as opposed to just shoving a giant subwoofer in the boot.
Efficiency. I am always trying to make things more efficient in life. Whether is quicker, easier or cheaper, efficiency always has a part in my thinking.
Experience with work and anything work related
Here are some of the skills I have learnt over time. I rated myself very strictly on these ratings, and followed the following basic way of rating my skills:
- <65% - Some basic knowledge in the skill.
- 66% - 75% - Comfortable to start a new project using the given skill.
- 76% - 85% - Comfortable to assist someone having issues in the given skill.
- 86% - 95% - Consider myself a specialist in the skill.
- 96%+ - Part of the design team to develop the given skill.
Languages
| Bash | |
| C# | |
| CSS | |
| DevOps | |
| Google Apps Scripts | |
| HTML | |
| JavaScript | |
| Microsoft T-SQL | |
| React | |
| TypeScript | |
| Assembler | |
| C++ | |
| C | |
| Haskell | |
| Java | |
| MySQL | |
| PHP | |
| Prolog | |
| Python | |
| VB 6 | |
| VB.Net |
Programs
Some of the programs I am proficient with.
| Adobe Photoshop | |
| Git | |
| Google Docs | |
| Microsoft Visual Studio | |
| Neovim | |
| VS Code | |
| Autodesk 3ds Max | |
| Microsoft Office | |
| Microsoft SharePoint | |
| Solid Works |
Operating Systems
I have been using DOS as my first OS but when '95 came along, I exclusively used Windows until around 2002 when I started playing around with Linux based OSs.
I bought my first Mac in 2010 and have used MacOS (for personal computing) up until around 2020.
I have always used Windows in a proressional capacity. I still use it to date in some capacity, but mostly use Linux now, either through Arch, or WSL Arch.
I rediscovered Linux in 2020 and have been living and breathing Linux since. I have also forced myself to use the terminal for everything which has improved my skillset and productivity immensely.
| Linux | |
| MacOS | |
| Windows 11 | |
| Windows Server | |
| Windows 10 | |
| Windows 7 |
Infrastructure Setup
| AWS Infrastructure | |
| Azure Infrastructure | |
| Docker | |
| Google Apps Domain | |
| Microsoft IIS | |
| Mikrotik RouterOS | |
| Proxmox | |
| nginx | |
| Apache | |
| Microsoft DHCP | |
| Microsoft DNS Server | |
| SharePoint Server | |
| Windows Domain Controller |
Hardware
I'm skilled in assembling computers and setting up basic networks. I'm also skilled in basic electronics. I have been playing around inside computers since I was 12, upgrading my memory from 2MB to 4MB on the old 386.
Contact get in touch or just say hi
You can email me at [email protected]
GitHub
Check out my code and projects on GitHub.
X (Twitter)
See what I'm up to by following @albert_gouws
I don't go hardcore with it, but I do send out the occasional post.
To check out my photo feed, follow albert_gouws on Instagram.
Don't worry, I won't spam too many pictures of my breakfast or pets!
Photography has always been a great hobby for me
Photography
Check out some of my Instagram shots. Photography has always been a passion of mine, and I enjoy capturing moments across various subjects, with sports photography being a particular favorite.
Gaming some of the games that bring back fond memories
Classic Games
Some of my old time favorites include: Alley Cat, Frogger, Montezuma's Revenge, Sopwith, and Grand Prix Circuit.
Modern Games
Some of the more recent games I enjoyed: The Hitman series of games, Max Payne, Command and Conquer Generals, Counter-Strike, Age of Empires II.