About Me

Hello, World! My name is Colin McNamara and you are looking at version 1 of my first website.

Professionally, I am an ex-investment analyst on his path to becoming a web developer. I love learning and the practice of building something that people can see and interact with.

I am inspired by the work and writings of people like Tim Ferriss (4HWW Blog) and Paul Graham (PG's Essays) and admire from afar the work of companies like Google, SpaceX, and many others. I am addicted to Evernote and MyFitnessPal and don't go anywhere without my Fitbit Charge HR.

Right now, I am in "build mode" and am looking to build my portfolio in any way that I can. I am entirely self-taught and am utilizing a number of DIY sources including: Coursera, Zed Shaw's Learn Ruby the Hard Way, Michael Hartl's Ruby on Rails Tutorial, Free Code Camp, and many others.

Featured Work

Pinochle Hand Generator

This pinochle hand-generator does exactly what it says it does: it creates a Pinochle deck in JavaScript and then shows the cards for a 4-player deal.

Javascript Calculator

calculator stock photo

This is a basic JavaScript calculator showcasing some jQuery.

Rock, Paper, Scissors (NSFW)

hand shapes for rock, paper and scissors

Rock, Paper Scissors versus a computer to demonstrate basic animation.

Course Work

List of my self-education sources

Coursera


University of Michigan
  1. Introduction to HTML5
  2. Introduction to CSS3
  3. Advanced Styling with Responsive Design
  4. Interactivity with JavaScript

Coursera


John Hopkins University
  1. Ruby on Rails: An Introduction
  2. Rails with Active Record and Action Pack
  3. HTML, CSS, and Javascript for Web Developers

Codecademy

Completed Courses
  1. jQuery
  2. JavaScript
  3. Learn SQL

Khan Academy

Completed Courses
  1. Intro to SQL: Querying and Managing Data

Michael Hartl's Rails Tutorial

Free Code Camp

The Odin Project

RubyMonk

Bulk Navigation

My Work thus Far (Organized)

Basic HTML & CSS
  1. Intro to HTML5: First Home Page: Tag Practice
  2. Intro to HTML5: Final Project
  3. Intro to CSS3 - Week 1: Ultimate Frisbee: Home Page | Ultimate Frisbee: History | Ultimate Frisbee: Teams (note: I did not write the HTML for these pages)
  4. Intro to CSS3 - Week 2: Ultimate Frisbee: Home Page | Ultimate Frisbee: History | Ultimate Frisbee: Teams (note: I did not write the HTML for these pages)
  5. Intro to CSS3 - Week 4: Ultimate Frisbee: Home Page | Ultimate Frisbee: History | Ultimate Frisbee: Teams (note: I did not write the HTML for these pages)
  6. Colin's Tests: Vertical Navigation
  7. Colin's Tests: Horizontal Navigation
  8. Colin's Tests: Horizontal Nav with Dropdowns
Bootstrap & Responsive Design
  1. Intro to HTML, CSS and Javascript - Week 2: Responsive Design Play-Around
  2. Intro to HTML, CSS and Javascript - Week 3: Bootstrap Play-Around
Javascript & JQuery
  1. Intro to HTML, CSS and Javascript - Week 4: Javascript Arrays and Functions (all console)
  2. Interactivity with Javascript: Week 2 Homework: Three Picture: Hover (note: I did not write the HTML for this page)
  3. W3school.com Canvas Clock: W3School's Clock | Colin's Version & Explanation
  4. Colin's Tests: Train Animation
Ruby & Rails
  1. Pinterest Clone
  2. Recipe App (in progress)
  3. Basic Blog App
  4. Reddit Clone
  5. Rails 5 Blog App
  6. Another Blog App
  7. Jobs Board
  8. Movie Review App
  9. Todo List App
  10. Wikipedia Clone
  11. Forum (incomplete)
  12. Notebook App
  13. Dribble-type App

My Work thus Far (Unorganized)

  1. Texas Hold'em Hand Generator (Work in Progress): Version 1
  2. Derek Banas Tutorial: Bootstrap
  3. Pinochle Hand Generator (Work in Progress): Version 1
  4. Bootstrap Tutorial: Derek Banas Walkthrough
  5. Rock, Paper, Scissors: Version 1 | Version 2
  6. Javascript Calculators: Colin's V1 | Code Academy | Version #2 |
  7. Advanced Styling with Responsive Design: Week 3 Work: Bootstrap: Components & Pill Navigation
  8. Advanced Styling with Responsive Design: Week 3 Work: Bootstrap: Basics & Tab Navigation
  9. Advanced Styling with Responsive Design: Week 2 Homework: First Responsive Design Page
  10. Interactivity with Javascript: Week 4 Work: CodePen (professor's code) | Form Play-Around
  11. Interactivity with Javascript: Week 4 Homework: Javascript Form Work (note: I did not write the HTML for this page)
  12. Interactivity with Javascript: Week 3: Professor's CodePen | Arrays |
  13. Colin's Tests: Canvas Play-Around 2 (animated field)
  14. Colin's Tests: Train Animation
  15. W3school.com Canvas Clock: W3School's Clock | Colin's Version & Explanation
  16. Intro to HTML, CSS and Javascript - Week 5: Basic AJAX => random menu page loads when you click on "Specials"; (note: I did not write the HTML for this page)
  17. Colin's Tests: Canvas Play-Around (initial field build, no functionality)
  18. Jennifer DeWalt - Day 4: Jen's Page | Colin's Clone | Colin's Version (with notes)
  19. Jennifer DeWalt - Day 3: Jen's Page | Colin's Clone | Colin's Version (with notes)
  20. Interactivity with Javascript: Week 2 Homework: Three Picture: Hover (note: I did not write the HTML for this page)
  21. Intro to HTML, CSS and Javascript - Week 4: Javascript Arrays and Functions (all console)
  22. Interactivity with Javascript: Week 2 (Example): Three Picture Alt Text (note: I did not write the HTML for this page)
  23. Colin's Tests: Horizontal Nav with Dropdowns
  24. Colin's Tests: Horizontal Navigation
  25. Colin's Tests: Vertical Navigation
  26. Intro to CSS3 - Week 4: Ultimate Frisbee: Home Page | Ultimate Frisbee: History | Ultimate Frisbee: Teams (note: I did not write the HTML for these pages)
  27. Intro to CSS3 - Week 2: Ultimate Frisbee: Home Page | Ultimate Frisbee: History | Ultimate Frisbee: Teams (note: I did not write the HTML for these pages)
  28. Intro to HTML, CSS and Javascript - Week 3: Bootstrap Play-Around
  29. Intro to HTML, CSS and Javascript - Week 2: Responsive Design Play-Around
  30. Intro to CSS3 - Week 1: Ultimate Frisbee: Home Page | Ultimate Frisbee: History | Ultimate Frisbee: Teams (note: I did not write the HTML for these pages)
  31. Intro to HTML5: Final Project
  32. Intro to HTML5: First Home Page: Tag Practice

Pages Under Construction:

  1. Colin's Tests: Canvas Play-Around 2 (animated field)
  2. Colin's Tests: Train Animation
  3. Interactivity with Javascript: Week 4 Work: CodePen (professor's code) | Form Play-Around

Cool Websites

  1. Jennifer DeWalt - Jennifer DeWalt's 180 Websites in 180 Days