====== Who is Owen? ======
I (**Owen Mellema**) am a Software engineer from Lenexa, Kansas. I graduated from the University Of Kansas with a Bachelor's Degree in Computer engineering in the Spring of 2020. Currently, I work for Cerner, primarily working on [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_House_Veterans%27_Affairs_Subcommittee_on_Technology_Modernization|upgrading the VA's Electronic Health Records Management system]] as a part of the Outpatient Pharmacy organization.

===== Education =====
==== JCCC ====
I went to JCCC for two years, where I received an Associate Degree. Despite it not being the biggest or best college, I really enjoyed my time there. The class sizes were small and advisors would meet with you one on one to discuss your future.

==== KU ====
After graduating from JCCC, I transferred to KU, where I spent three years and received a Bachelor's Degree in Computer Engineering. An interesting note is that during the time that I attended KU, I lived in Lenexa, which is about forty minutes away, so I rode the bus everyday. 

===== Career =====
==== Pre-Technology ====
My first job was working at Chick-fil-a. I stayed with Chick-fil-a for three years, until the end of my senior year of college, when I took an internship with Hyland and never re-applied. At Chick-fil-a, I developed a few key attributes:
  * **Perfectionism**: I wanted things done right, goshdangit!
  * **Personableness**: I was previously extremely shy. Working at Chick-fil-a helped me to establish my voice and become a more personable individual.
  * **Self-pride**: Most importantly, I learned how good it feels to have done a job well and to act with integrity.

==== Hyland ====
In the summer of 2019, I had an internship at Hyland, formerly known as Perceptive Software.

==== Cerner ====
In the summer of 2020, I began working at Cerner. Cerner is a medical information company, who develops the massive program known as //Cerner Millenium//. If you have looked at your doctor's screen while you were in the doctor's office, you may have seen PowerChart, one of the many front-end applications that are a part of Millenium.

=== DevAcademy ===
At Cerner, new employees are put through a program called DevAcademy to grow their skills as a developer. When I was on this team, I worked on a project called IRL-RPG, along with my teammates ((Note on names: I will abbreviate everyone's names out of respect for their privacy unless they explicitly ask to be mentioned)) KS, RI, XH, MB, and HA. IRL-RPG was a clone of Habitica for Cerner employees to use. Unfortunately, it didn't get very far, and was eventually replaced by a fork of Habitica itself. 🤷‍♂️ My awesome mentors were AP and AA.

=== Outpatient Pharmacy ===
After DevAcademy, I was taken in by Outpatient Pharmacy. Outpatient Pharmacy worked with retail prescriptions, and specifically the VA. I am still working with them, so I suppose a retrospective is jumping the gun a bit. 

=== Open-Closed Source ===
I also did work on some extra-curricular utilities. I worked on a plugin for IntelliJ that would handle a Cerner internal file format ((I can discuss this more in-depth if you ask me privately, but I am just concerned that putting it on a public website could be a breach of some policy)), along with some fellow members of my team including JT, KW, and HH. This plugin was eventually officially adopted.

===== Programming Languages etc. =====
⭐I have heard of it

⭐⭐I have a functional knowledge of it

⭐⭐⭐I have an average knowledge of it

⭐⭐⭐⭐I know all of the "important stuff"

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐I am an expert (or, [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/There_are_known_knowns|I think I am]])

^ Language ^ Rating ^
| C++      |⭐⭐⭐|
| Python   |⭐⭐⭐⭐|
| Java     |⭐⭐⭐⭐|
| C#       |⭐⭐|

^ Dev Tools  ^ Rating ^
| Git        |⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐|
| SVN        |⭐|
| Jenkins    |⭐⭐|
| GitHub     |⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐|
| Maven      |⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐|
| Gradle     |⭐|

^ Operating Systems ^ Rating ^
| Linux/Bash        |⭐⭐⭐|
| Windows           |⭐⭐⭐⭐|
| Mac               |⭐|


===== Interests =====
There are a lot of things I am interested in. Note that interest does not mean skill or knowledge!
  * Cellular Automata. They show complex phenomena from simple rules. I actually delivered a couple of talks on this topic at Cerner's Lightning Talks.
  * Evolutionary Biology. Have you ever thought about the fact that we are surrounded with tiny replicators? 
  * Procedural Generation. Making cool stuff from random noise.
  * Discrete Math and Algorithims. Like normal math, but except with no icky fractions!
  * Weird Computer Ideas: Reversible Computing. Quantum Computing. Transputers. Fuzzy Logic. If it's weird, I'm in.