Resume

Joseph Rooks

Phone: (540)-200-8565

Email: josephrooks@gmail.com

Web: JosephRooks.com

Twitter: @josephrooks

Education

Virginia Tech

Studio Art, 2004 - 2008

  • Studies included life drawing, color theory, inking, digital design, architecture, art and architectural history, professional writing, acting, and theater.

Experience

Sidekick Publishing LLC

Co-Owner, March 2011 - November 2011

  • Offered digital media services to local businesses, including building and hosting websites, setting up email lists, creating content, and teaching new technologies.

John F. Morrison & Kathy Rooks Estates

Executor, April 2006 - January 2008

  • Assumed legal responsibility for my mother’s and grandfather’s estates at age 19.

  • Hired lawyers, realtors, and contractors to renovate and sell the house and resolve other legal matters, while attending school six hours away.

The Clock Crew

Administrator, March 2005 - July 2008

  • Managed an international community of 10,000 animators and other graphic artists.

  • Created Flash Academy, a weekly meetup where community members would draw, animate, critique work and learn from one another via Internet Relay Chat (IRC).

  • Produced the community’s most ambitious collaborative project (details below).

The Clock Crew TV Collab 2

Organizer & Producer, November 2005 - June 2007

  • Collaborated with fifty artists around the world to create the biggest collaborative project on Newgrounds, the web’s largest Flash animation portal.

  • Pieced the finished product together in Flash, working with animators and programmers to fix technical problems as necessary.

  • Used my experience to advise researchers at Georgia Tech on how artists collaborate via the web, and provided feedback on the early versions of Pipeline.

4Help, Get Connected

Team Member, August 2006 - September 2006

  • Provided on-site support to frazzled Virginia Tech freshmen and their parents.

  • Politely explained why plugging USB cables into ethernet ports and whittling down ethernet cables until they fit into the phone jack are sub-optimal methods for connecting to the internet.

Technical Expert, August 2007 - September 2007

  • All of the above, with more complex problems elevated to me by team members.

  • Survived the first wave of students to start college with Windows Vista computers.

Skills

Code

  • Beginner experience with HTML and CSS from scratch.

  • I’m comfortable customizing HTML and CSS elements in the Squarespace, Wordpress and Tumblr themes on my personal websites.

  • Currently learning to use Terminal, GitHub, node.js, npm and mysql.

Communication

  • I can translate complex ideas into simple words and visuals. Ask anyone who’s seen me draw an impromptu diagram that describes exactly what they’re trying to say.

  • I don’t leave communication up to chance or memory. Whether I’m sending a message or waiting for a reply, it’s tracked in a system where I’ll see it and take the next step.

Content Management Systems

  • I’m currently running websites on Squarespace, Wordpress, and Tumblr to keep my knowledge and skills current (and because I love them all for different reasons).

  • I have installed and used several versions of MediaWiki, DokuWiki, Drupal and Moodle on my web server for the sole purpose of understanding how to use them.

  • If this doesn’t prove I’m a web nerd, I don’t know what will.

Digital Media

  • I’ve been actively involved in internet communities since 2002, and I’m an enthusiastic early adopter who’s always looking for new outlets and tools to experiment with.

  • I learn about tools - digital or otherwise - by paying attention to the people already using them successfully, not just by trying to stretch my understanding of old tools over new ones.

Ideation

  • I’ve developed a mindful creative process to ensure that I make decisions about new ideas in the context of everything else I have going on.

  • I’m constantly iterating on that creative process, by adapting the best ideas I can find to the work I’m doing now.

  • I’m skilled at bringing order to creative chaos, exploring and iterating on ideas using mind maps, diagrams, and outlines.

Operating Systems

OS X, 2007-present

  • OS X has been my primary operating system since I bought my first Mac in 2007.

  • I’ve also installed Leopard and Snow Leopard on my desktop PC (Hackintosh) for the fun of it.

iOS, 2009-present

  • I always have at least one folder full of new apps that I’m trying out. (Right now it includes Buffer, News360, Clear, Snapseed, Scoutmob.)

  • I’ve jailbroken iOS 3, 4, and 5 to dig around in the filesystem, and to try out modifications like Mobile Notifier (in iOS 4, before Notification Center existed).

Windows XP, 2004-present; Windows 7, 2009-present

  • I keep Windows virtualized in VMWare Fusion for managing NTFS disks on my Mac without installing a third-party driver at the system level.

  • I also use them for reference when I need to help someone with a Windows-specific technical problem. If I can get my hands on the operating system or the app in question, I can usually figure out what needs to be done.

Linux, 2011-present

  • I started using MineOS (a Linux distro for running Minecraft servers) in late 2011 as a means of learning the command line.

  • I have learned the basics of using the command line to create and manipulate files, change permissions, compile code, and run applications and scripts.

  • I have beginner experience compiling, configuring and running some command line applications, like ngIRCd (IRC server), Eggdrop (an IRC bot with a 1351-line config file that I read top to bottom), irssi (command line IRC client), Jabber/XMPP server software, Screens, and other odds and ends.

Legacy Systems, 1995-present

  • When I was 12, I taught myself to repair computers and use MS-DOS 6.22 with a pile of old desktops and parts found in a storage room at the office where my parents worked.

  • I hacked around in Windows 3.1, 95, 98, 2000, XP, and Mac OS System 6 and System 7 on my other personal computers growing up.

  • Does running Linux on the original XBox count for anything? I did that too.

Project Management

  • My most challenging experiences have taught me to manage unpredictable projects and keep a lot of complex and unpredictable parts moving forward at the same time.

  • Everything I need or want to do in my personal life is tracked in a system where it won’t slip through the cracks. This will carry over into my professional work as well.

Teamwork

  • I ask others for guidance, wisdom or encouragement when I need them, so I can go back to the drawing board with what I need to move an idea forward.

  • The things I’m not personally good at or knowledgable about are not an excuse for bad work. I care a lot about making things that delight and encourage people, and not at all about taking pride in what I can do alone.

Videography

  • I know the basics of Final Cut Pro X (thanks to IzzyVideo.com’s Final Cut Pro X course).

  • If I need to explain how to do something, I use ScreenFlow to record an explanation as I do it on-screen, add annotations, and upload it to YouTube or my web server.

Writing

  • I write in plain English with a conversational tone.

  • I read my writing aloud to track down words and sentences that don’t fit well together.

  • Most of my writing happens in NVAlt, TextEdit, Notesy and Scrivener, using Markdown. I use Pages and Word when necessary.