About Alan T. Miller
Professional Life
I make my living these days building and coding web sites. Technically this makes we a web developer. However, what I actually do is a lot more than push out code.
To sum things up, I create stuff. I create web properties and value. This includes everything from designing graphics and logos to structuring the backend databases and functional flow that drives everything behind the scenes. I often write and craft the content that adorns many pages, set up and maintain the servers serving these properties. I help shape online marketing and business objectives, work to gain top search engine results, and most importantly, work to figure out how to make a web property do what it is intended to do, get results. I am an online "jack of all trades" to put in one way. If you want more specifics, then have a look at my resume.
I found my way to the Internet while I was still a student in college. At that time very few people knew what the Internet was. I was attracted to the Internet for what I saw as its communicative potential in furthering the enlightenment project. Just as Gutenberg's printing press changed the world, I saw the Internet's potential much in the same way. With that thought in mind, my first web sites were driven by political motivations. While I have not lost my desire to utilize my talents and harness the potential of the Internet to make a grand humanitarian contribution to the online world, for now, my attention and my skills are put to work mostly on paying bills.
Currently, aside from the usual work I pick up from others, my attention has been focused on a few projects of my own. I consider myself to be an entrepreneur at heart, and have had my hand in a number of ventures throughout the years.
Personal Life
While web development may define what I currently do for a living, it does not define who I am as a person. With that said, here are some rambling thoughts about me if you care to know.
I enjoy photography, the arts, philosophy, politics, great food, great music, and great conversation. Topics may include anything and everything from toothpaste to philosophy. A great conversation does not necessarily have to be about a great topic.
I can respect creative expression in all of its forms and would argue that attending the opera does not make you a better person than if you simply went out for a movie. If someone puts their heart and soul into their craft, that is something to see and appreciate.
I like to travel and for me, traveling is about the opportunity to experience something new, something different, and maybe learn something along the way, if not about yourself, the world we live in and the people we inhabit that world with.
I believe that there is a difference between an education and vocational training and that there is still great value to an education.
I believe Ayn Rand's book Atlas Shrugged goes a long way toward explaining modern American culture. This is not necessarily an endorsement of her philosophy.
I remain both optimistic and pessimistic about the Internet's potential.
Past Life
In past lives I used to play the drums in a hard rock band, actively pursued photography (wanted to be a photojournalist), did my share of journalism and newspaper production work, and for a time I thought I might actually spend my life pursuing philosophy in the world of higher education, smoking jacket and pipe in hand.