Welcome to PixelBrewer!
I’m Alex, a software engineer who enjoys building things, learning how things work, and occasionally disappearing down a rabbit hole because I wondered, “How hard could that be?”
PixelBrewer is my little corner of the internet for sharing the things I make, the things I’m passionate about, and some of the nuggets of wisdom I pick up along the way.
What is PixelBrewer?
PixelBrewer started as an alias I used online, but over time it has become a fitting name for the place where I share my work.
The “Pixel” represents my love of computers, games, graphics, and technology. The “Brewer” comes from another longtime passion of mine: coffee. Put them together and you get a pretty good representation of me.
This site is where those interests meet.
You’ll find software projects I’m building, articles about things I’ve been learning or thinking about, and glimpses into some of the things I enjoy when I’m away from the keyboard.
Why this site exists
I wanted a place on the internet that felt like more than a résumé.
Résumés are useful, but they don’t tell you very much about the person behind them. A list of programming languages and job titles doesn’t tell you why someone loves making software, what they choose to build when nobody is telling them what to build, or what interests them enough to spend a Saturday afternoon figuring it out.
That’s what I want this site to capture.
My goal is for this site to be a one-stop shop for who I am and what I make. Some projects will be polished and complete. Others will be experiments, works in progress, or simply excuses to learn something new.
Right now, that means you’ll see plenty of C++, C#, game development, developer tooling, backend systems, Linux related stuff, and whatever else has caught my attention lately.
Writing things down
I also want PixelBrewer to be a place where I write.
I’ve been working with computers for a long time, from learning to program and studying computer science to building software professionally and rediscovering areas of programming that made me fall in love with it in the first place.
Along the way I’ve succeeded at things, failed at things, changed my mind, learned lessons the hard way, and occasionally discovered that something I thought I understood was much more interesting than I realized.
I’d like to write some of that down.
I don’t expect everything here to be a tutorial or some definitive statement about how software should be built. Sometimes I may explain something I’ve learned. Sometimes I’ll write about a project. Other times I might just share an opinion or an idea I’ve been thinking about.
If something I’ve learned on my own long journey through life and technology helps someone else on theirs, even better.
More than software
As much as I enjoy programming, it isn’t the only thing that makes me who I am.
I practice kendo. I ski. I love strategy games. I care perhaps a little too much about coffee. I share my home with two cats who occasionally have their own opinions about when programming should stop for the day.
That’s why this site has a gallery alongside the projects and writing.
Say hello
One of the reasons I’m putting my work and thoughts out here is to connect with other people who enjoy making and learning things.
If something I’ve built interests you, you want to talk about software or games, you have a question about something I’ve written, or you simply want to say hello, I’d be happy to hear from you.
You can find me on GitHub, LinkedIn, Mastodon, and X through the links at the bottom of this site.
If you fancy Email you can also send me one of those by clicking the mail icon near all of the other socials.
And if you’ve made it this far, thanks for stopping by.