Japheth is j5th is Jay.
Technologist, musician, writer, and happily married dad of 6. Onward for intros.
Technologist, musician, writer, and happily married dad of 6. Onward for intros.
I’m on staff with a nonprofit hospital system, where I lead teams of brilliant nerds that defend the enterprise, develop custom applications, and implement new data analytics capabilities focused on patient privacy and safety.
I have worked with some fantastic organizations throughout my career, including TZT, Splunk, CBP, and Gospelcom.net. In parallel, I’ve led hundreds of contract web, UI, and appdev projects for a diverse mix of clients internationally. I’m also the founder of a small-but-mighty software consultancy that solves tough problems for organizations.
I play lead guitar in FTL. We smash together a mix of 90s (+/-) alt-rock, Christian alt-rock, classic rock, and some modern worship. In addition to events and traditional gigs, we play free concerts in homeless shelters and other venues that don’t normally get live music.
The majority of my musical experience over the past 30 years has been in church. I’ve had the privilege of playing guitar on several different worship teams. The intersection of faith and music is a very important place to me.
As a writer, I’m a three-part being:
Technical writer. I’ve done gobs of technical and business writing over the course of my career. Design documents, standards, proposals, marketing copy, and just about every flavor of technical documentation. Some of my work has been published in interesting and unique ways.
Blogger. I fell in love with blogging in 2003 and ever since have been in a rocky relationship. It’s complicated, but we’re on again. I’m a very private person but, paradoxically, I enjoy writing about the heavy and deeply personal aspects of my life.
Aspiring novelist. Beyond the short story competition I won in 8th grade, improvisational fantasy storytelling a la D&D, and some angsty poetry as a teenager, the creative writing region of my brain has been sorely neglected. I’ve been taking steps to fix that. I currently have several fiction projects in the works, with plans to release a novel or twelve before my dirtnap.
I became a husband and a dad right out of high school. I wouldn’t recommend it. (Seriously, 0 out of 5 stars.) Today, I’m happily remarried to an amazing woman and total hottie, proving that the mgeek will truly inherit the earth. (If you ever meet her, please don’t tell her that she’s out of my league. I have a good thing going.) I also have six awesome kids – four of whom can no longer be called “kids” and five of whom like me at any given time.
Some of my blog-shaped thoughts are about family issues, such as my series on divorce. Any posts about my faith, while not directly addressing family stuff, are also quite relevant. Had you met 18-year-old me, you would know that the only possible explanation for my life today is that God, and His grace, are alive and well.