$> whoamiAbout me

I'm Allen Jones, a Technical Support Engineer who likes being the person who figures out why a system is actually broken.

For the past four years I've worked on the Akana API Management Platform at Perforce Software. My days are spent troubleshooting API gateway issues, analyzing container logs, running SQL against production data, managing our internal Support Lab VMs and databases, and turning escalations with many moving parts into clear answers. I read the stack trace instead of guessing, and I'm always looking for ways to improve any process while finding the solution.

It started when my dad gave me his Zeos 486 after he upgraded his setup in the early 90s. I was immediately hooked, and I grew up alongside the Internet. I can still remember the "wow" moment of being one of the first houses to move from dial-up and get cable internet. I was constantly experimenting with new hardware/software and was building my own custom PCs before starting high school. I hauled a full tower case and a 19-inch flatscreen Sony CRT monitor to more LAN parties than I can count.

Technology stayed a constant hobby through college and beyond, but my first career was in Hotel Management after completing my Bachelor's of Science at Boston University. After more than 15 years in hotels, I made a career change through a coding bootcamp in 2022, and I never stopped building. Lately that means small, self-directed apps I actually use: things like an offline tip calculator and an elevation tracker for hiking in national parks with no cell service. I like software that's simple, respects your privacy, and does its job well.

Outside of work I'm married to my amazing wife Nicole, and we have two cats named Loki & Siete (cat tax below). I'm a gamer, a disc golfer, a BABYMETAL superfan, and I enjoy cooking all kinds of food on our grill and smoker. I also like to take a break from the screens to spend time exploring state and national parks whenever I can.

I'm a perpetual learner by temperament, which is probably why both support engineering and this field in general suits me: there's always another layer to understand. That includes the AI tools that are now part of this field. I use them thoughtfully while keeping my work and voice my own. Just like getting cable internet all those years ago, technology keeps moving, and I intend to keep pace with it.

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