flask - Jet Mariano

From coding late nights to building real solutions — proof that persistence pays off.
DeveloperJourney #IvyFalls #NoBandAidFix

Introduction: The Path Is the Practice

My journey to development and infrastructure followed the same rhythm — discipline by day, learning by night.
While working full-time at All Electronics Corporation in Van Nuys (1990–1995), I woke at 4 A.M. to catch two LA Metro buses from Western and 3rd Street to my 6:30 A.M. shift, then sometimes worked evenings at the Taco Bell drive-thru in Glendale.

I wasn’t chasing titles; I was chasing understanding. At All Electronics, I became obsessed with the Integrated Circuit (IC) — the heartbeat of every computer. There was no Internet back then — only library books and endless curiosity. I crashed my own PCs, rebuilt them, and soon began fixing computers for free for anyone who needed help.

Back then, I used to dream of a day when I wouldn’t have to wait for the bus in the rain just to get home. Years later, those same dreams became reality — not through luck, but through faith, discipline, and persistence. The rides changed — from buses to a BMW, an Audi, and now a Tesla — but what never changed was the purpose: to keep moving forward.

Those early mornings and late nights opened the door to my first IT role at USC as a PC Specialist, then to GTE (now Verizon), Aerospace, and eventually to my own IT consulting business serving clients large and small across California and beyond.

Season of Refinement

While working full-time at USC, I entered what I call my season of refinement.
By day I supported campus systems and users; by night I was a full-time student at Los Angeles City College (LACC) and a weekend warrior at DeVry University, studying Management in Telecommunications.

It was during this time that Microsoft introduced the MCSE (Microsoft Certified Systems Engineer) program.
One of my LACC professors encouraged me to earn it, saying, “Once you have that license, companies will chase you.”
He was right — that MCSE became my ticket to GTE, my first step into enterprise-scale IT.

My tenure at GTE was brief because Aerospace came calling with a six-figure offer just before Y2K — an opportunity too great to refuse.
After Aerospace, I founded my own consulting firm — Ahead InfoTech (AIT) — and entered what I now call my twelve years of plenty.

One of my earliest clients, USC Perinatal Group, asked me to design and implement a secure LAN/WAN connecting satellite offices across major hospitals including California Hospital Medical Center, Saint Joseph of Burbank and Mission Hills, and Hollywood Presbyterian Hospital.
We used T1 lines with CSU/DSU units and Fortinet firewalls; I supplied every workstation and server under my own AIT brand.

Through that success I was referred to additional projects for Tarzana and San Gabriel Perinatal Groups, linked by dedicated frame-relay circuits — early-era networking at its finest.
Momentum carried me to new partnerships with The Claremont Colleges and the City of West Covina, where I served as Senior Consultant handling forensic and SMTP (email) engineering.

Word spread further. An attorney client introduced me to an opportunity in American Samoa to help design and build a regional ISP, and later to a contract with Sanyo Philippines.
During this period Fortinet was still new, and I became one of its early resellers. I preferred building AIT servers and workstations from the ground up rather than reselling mass-produced systems.
DSL was just emerging, yet most clients relied on dedicated T1 lines — real hands-on networking that demanded patience and precision.

Those were the twelve years of plenty — projects stretching from Los Angeles hospitals to overseas data links.
By the time AWS launched in 2006 and Azure in 2010, I was already managing distributed networks and data replication.

When I returned to Corporate America, my first full-time role was at Payforward, where I led the On-Prem to AWS migration, building multi-region environments across US-East (1a and 1b) and US-West, complete with VPCs, subnets, IAM policies, and full cloud security.
That’s when I earned my AWS certifications, completing a journey that had begun with cables and consoles and matured in the cloud.

Education, experience, and certification merged into one lesson:
Discipline comes first. Validation follows.
Degrees and credentials were never my starting line — they became the icing on the cake of years of practice, service, and faith.

My Philosophy: Code Like a Craftsman

Photography taught me patience. Martial Arts taught me form. IT taught me precision.
All three share one secret: the art lies in repetition with awareness.

As Ansel Adams said:

“When words become unclear, I shall focus with photographs. When images become inadequate, I shall be content with silence.”

Coding feels the same. When logic becomes unclear, I focus. When code seems inadequate, I find peace in understanding.

The Developer Path

1️⃣ Core Web Skills

2️⃣ Frontend Framework

Master React or Next.js.
Courses: Max Schwarzmüller Udemy | Colt Steele Bootcamp | Jonas Schmedtmann JS Course

3️⃣ Backend & APIs

Choose Node.js or Python (Flask / FastAPI).
Watch: Corey Schafer | Course: Angela Yu 100 Days of Code

4️⃣ DevOps for Developers

Learn Docker, GitHub Actions, and Cloud Deployments.
Watch: TechWorld with Nana

5️⃣ Labs & Simulators

No hardware? Use Whizlabs Labs | Replit | Microsoft Sandboxes

6️⃣ Portfolio

Build three apps (CRUD, API, SPA) + README + screenshots + a short blog for each.

Final Reflection

From library nights in Koreatown to pushing code in the cloud, this path proves that curiosity and consistency still change lives.
Keep learning, keep building, and remember — every keystroke is one more kick toward mastery.
This blog will continue to grow as technology changes — come back often and build along with me.

🪶 Closing Note

I share this story not to boast but to inspire those still discovering their own path in technology.
Everything here is told from personal experience and memory; if a date or detail differs from official records, it’s unintentional.
I’m grateful for mentors like my LACC professor, who once told me to look up a name not yet famous — Bill Gates — and earn my MCSE + I.
He was right: that single decision opened countless doors.

I don’t claim to know everything; I simply kept learning, serving, and sharing.
My living witnesses are my son, my younger brother, and friends who once worked with me and now thrive in IT.
After all these years, I’m still standing — doing what I love most: helping people through Information Technology.

⚖️ Legal Disclaimer

All events and company names mentioned are described from personal recollection for educational and inspirational purposes only. Any factual inaccuracies are unintentional. Opinions expressed are my own and do not represent any past or current employer.

Jet Mariano

Tag: flask

💻 Path to Become a Developer (Ivy Falls)