About Me

I’m a software engineer, who loves the great outdoors, and seems to pick up far too many hobbies along the way.

Employment

I’ve worked for IBM for the last decade, and have been fortunate enough to be in the Linux Technology Center since it’s inception in 2001.  I’ve worked on a number of Open Source Projects for my day job including SystemImager, OpenHPI, Xen, and OpenSimulator.  Beyond just slinging code, I also focus on community organization.  Communities, software or other, are like gardens, and require some attention to grow in productive ways.

It goes without saying that any opinions expressed here are mine alone, and do not necessarily reflect those of my employer.

Software

I’m a huge believer in Open Source Software, and have been an avid Linux user since 1999. I do open source at work, but I also do plenty of it on my off hours. There really is only one Sean Dague on the internet right now (I feel bad if someone else pops up with the same name), so if you find my name in a software credits file, it’s me.  Over the years I’ve written reasonable projects in Perl, C, Java, C#, Python, and Ruby, with plenty of dabbling in PHP, DHTML and Javascript (both in browser, and as XUL extension).

For side projects that I run myself I’ve moved everything to Github.

My most recent kick is web applications using the Ruby on Rails framework.  Ruby has really stuck for me, and Rails is just so pleasant to work with.

Community

I formed our local Linux Users Group in 2003, and have been running it ever since. If you are interested in Linux and Open Source Software, and are in the Poughkeepsie, NY area, come check us out.

I’m also getting actively involved in the Poughkeepsie Farm Project, helping with their internet strategy. I’m very happy that we’re seeing a national movement towards locally grown food (which really does taste better), and am excited to help expand that message. Expect to see some new things there soon.

Hobbies

You’ll also see plenty of posts in my blog about Astronomy.  In 2008 I finally bought myself a starter telescope, and have been reengaging the science part of my brain through picking up astronomy as a hobby.  Fortunately there is an excellent local astronomy organization.  If you have any interest in astronomy, you should check them out.

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