Bret McGowen sitting on a camel in front of an Egyptian Pyramid
A camel friend and I pose in front of the Pyramid of Khafre in Giza, Egypt

Random musings and thoughts

Reading

I'm trying to get back into reading (aren't we all?) so here's what I've read recently (courtesy of my Goodreads):

I was a big Star Wars expanded universe fan, and still am obsessed with Grand Admiral Thrawn. I'm looking forward to the new Ahsoka show on Disney+.

I'm always learning

I'm always learning new technologies and refreshing my skills. Follow along with me on my

  1. Bret McGowen's Coursera profile
  2. Bret's freeCodeCamp profile
  3. Microsoft Learn

Looking to hire me? Check out Sceva

Need coding or consulting done for your custom software apps? I'm available for hire via my tech consuling business Sceva. Sceva specializes in C#, .NET, Node.js and Google Cloud projects.

I'm also available for connecting on Polywork.

Campus life

I went to Texas A&M University and consider myself a pretty diehard Aggie. When I was a student I was quoted in the campus newspaper when Aggie Bonfire was canceled: "Bret McGowen, a junior computer science major, said Bowen's decision is hard to stomach."

Bret McGowen quoted in the Battalion TAMU student newspaper

Name twins

My mysterious doppleganger (last name spelled -an) from Vicon industries.

Bret McGowen, MD - if only. As we all can agree, doctor is the best job. Is (software) engineer number two?

I have an identical name double ("Bret McGowen") in Michigan who sadly recently lost his son South Bend Tribute obituary and a second obituary. My heart goes out to you.

There's an almost name twin in New York who also recently passed, here is one of his obits at Farone & Son.

Public speaking

I've given dozens of talks to audience sizes from 15 to 2,000+. Here's one of my very first talks from way back in 2015. Don't worry, I've gotten better!

Twitter/X

I have an alternate Twitter/X account at @BretMcGowen but also feel free to message me on Twitter at @BretMcG.