Sully Syed

Software Developer, Photography Enthusiast, Gamer

Hi there! I’m a software developer for a Bay Street firm in Toronto, Canada. When I’m not planning and writing software, I dabble in amateur photography, play video games and use this blog to keep track of interesting reading material I come across every day.

To start at the beginning, I was born in Toronto and have always lived here, experiencing life in most of the city’s boroughs at one time or another (East York, North York, Scarborough and Mississauga). Right now I’m at my favourite of the lot: A second-floor condo in downtown Toronto, about a fifteen minute walk from the Eaton Centre.

I attended high school at Scarborough’s Woburn Collegiate Institute and there was fortunate enough to meet and learn from an exceptional set of instructors and peers. I particularly credit the gifted level computer science classes I took in my later years there for providing me an enormous head start with the concepts and technologies I’d otherwise encounter as new at the university level.

I next obtained a Bachelor of Science in Computer Science at Ryerson University. Despite having many criticisms of the institution while attending it, nowadays I realize that the track system offering in the latter years of the program again provided me with a significant boost in my career, allowing me to concentrate on building software engineering and project management skills that were immediately transferable to real-world projects.

Aside from my regular work, I dabble in digital photography. I shoot with a Canon EOS 40D, paired primarily with a Tamron 28-75mm f/2.8 lens, a Canon 70-210mm f/3.5-4.5 zoom and Canon 50mm f/1.8 normal lens. The best the photos taken with my gear get uploaded onto my Flickr account.

To contact me, e-mail me at sully@degenerates.org. I’m also on Twitter as sullysyed. I also have an Xbox Live subscription under the gamer tag yllus if you ever want to catch a game with me.
 

Career Experience

In web development, my professional expertise started PHP, Apache and MySQL beginning in 2001, first as a contractor to a private marketing firm, and then from 2005 (and onwards) in a corporate setting. Since 2007, my work has shifted heavily into the .NET environment (ASP.NET websites on Windows Server 2008, .NET Web Services and even a Windows Service or two).

Web aside, I’ve also enjoyed my opportunities to create BlackBerryOS and Android applications.

 

Restaurants

My Restaurants page exists so that I may track and occasionally write a note to myself about the Toronto dining establishment.
 

Concerts

The Toronto music scene is a busy one. I keep a Concerts page so that I might remember acts I’ve seen and those I plan to see.