Featured Wynncraftian Fw S4e6 - Colin350

FEATURED WYNNCRAFTIAN
Season 4, Episode 6:
Colin350


Hosted by @Pretzule and the always pretty @Pretty Princess

Greetings one and all to the sixth interview of Featured Wynncraftian!

For anyone that has no clue what in the world I'm going on about, let me sit ya right down and explain it.
Basically, we feature people from the community that have done something that I can ask questions about or are pretty cool and have something to feature.
They don't always have to be a popular member, just as long as I can ask them about things that make them unique.

If you think you know someone that might be good to be interviewed or is crazy interesting or someone that is a standout member of the community feel free to suggest them here.
Seriously please suggest some, I really can't find them all on my own, and it never hurts to suggest people.

For this next interview I am interviewing the one the only man with a paragraph plan and the one that keeps fixing the website bugs and giving everyone else the FW tag for me...

It's none other than @colin350 !! he was originally suggested by uhhh no one...

Welp, it's time to hop right into the interview!​

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Alright, first question. You've had a crazy journey so far, from starting off as that one kid that made that super long ban appeal to being a web developer of Wynn. How did you make that happen? Did you ever stop and think how far you've come?

To be honest, I didn't foresee myself becoming Wynncraft's Web developer. I think I just did some things at the right time. I was first offered the position by Jumla in early December of 2016, weeks before I joined the Content Team. I don't really tell people this, but I politely declined his offer the first time, due to personal matters. A week later I applied for Builder and ended up being accepted into the Content team. I did some CT work for a little while until one day in early January, Jumla offered me the position again. I accepted the offer the second time. I would like to note that when I was hired, I had not yet become the official "Web Dev". Elements was still somewhat active and I was tasked to work on more "background" stuff, so-to-speak.

I stop and think how far I have come a lot, actually. I never expected to get to the point where I am today in 2014.

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That sounds like a nice little adventure, so when did you begin coding anyway?

Unlike a lot of people whom I know, I didn't really get into coding until about two years ago. Of course I've always had an interest in it, but I originally wasn't very committed.

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So then what changed your attitude towards coding then, when did you finally start to become more committed to it?

My coding story really did not begin until I took an advanced class in Java. In that class I learned everything from data structures to efficiency to syntax to pretty much everything else. However, I had my heart set on making tools or libraries, not games or game modifications like many people do. A year went by and then I started to get more and more invested into Web Programming. In the summer of 2016, I manipulated discord API libraries for more code practice, and made Wynn Theory's guild bot (guild now inactive). My first real project for Wynncraft itself was an API wrapper written in node.js. I wrote that in late 2016.

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Ah so over time it just kind of became something that you enjoyed more and more then.
So did you have any inspiration or any influence for anything that you've made?

Honestly, it varies. I have set tasks which I need to do for Wynncraft based on a Todo list. For some task items, they need to be a certain way, and for others, I can come up with the design. Note, I have done a number of projects under Wynncraft's domain that are dreamt up by myself. These projects can be frontend, backend, or even full stack. I will not discuss source code or projects in depth due to my contract with Wynncraft.

In terms of side projects, I like interacting with data and I'm really interested in cryptography/cybersecurity. In terms of data, I get a lot of inspiration from APIs and working with them. I've written a number of wrappers in javascript and crystal, two of the many languages which I know. I also like porting projects written in a language (such as C/C++ or python) to another language, so I usually start there.

I also get inspiration from is open source. I'm very invested in github, and try to contribute to projects frequently.

Finally, I get inspiration for projects simply by helping others learn to code. Its something that comes easily for me, now anyway, and I tend to tutor a lot of people in almost any language.

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So you basically draw inspiration from all over and whatever you work with, that's really awesome.
Other than coding what else do you do, either with Wynncraft or in your own time?

Well, as a lot of people may know, I've gained quite a bit of flair over the past 10 months. I started off as a Builder for the Content Team, and earned the Command rank just after the Corkus update. I have maintained the wiki as an administrator since June of 2016. I also am a member of the quality assurance team. So all of that plus my developer responsibilities is what I do for Wynncraft.

Outside of Wynncraft, I am currently in university studying engineering, which eats up a lot of my free time. I really enjoy skiing and skateboarding. I have found my niche in photography and drawing.

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You seriously have a lot on your plate it seems, it amazes me that you even find the time for even some of the things you enjoy.
How do you even manage your time with how much you've got going on?

Well it's pretty easy since my priority is school. Then comes friends and family. Then comes my job as well as the stuff I do here. It's certainly a lot and my weeks are busy but I can manage the time well and I make time for everything.

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Well as long as you've got it under control and know what's important.

What has been your proudest achievement while working with Wynn?

That's a hard one since I can't really talk about my developer work.

I would say my proudest achievement was the Fallen Factory parkour. I did all of the commands/redstone for that, before I had command rank. I know it's a lag machine, but it's kinda impossible to make it lag free.

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It's still actually possible to do it to a degree so that is an accomplishment in itself.
Which aspect of Wynn do you like working on most, building, web work, CMD work or something else?

Honestly, I like all of the work which I do for Wynn. I've certainly had the most fun being a CMD. I really enjoy my role as a QA and Builder. But at the end of the day, I like being the new Web Dev. With the number of projects I am working on, I have had the ability to see Wynncraft's codebase improve over the past 10 months, and it makes me happy that I've been able to contribute to that.

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Well that's good at least, fixing the web bugs has been a long time coming.
Thank you so much for fixing the bugs.
So how did you discover Wynncraft anyway?

In early 2014, I was a big fan of a build team called "PI Build team", mainly because I knew a lot of the players apart of it. One of their projects was a hub for a server. One day in June of that year, I remembered how much I liked that build so I decided that I would explore the server. However, I had forgotten the name of it, and all I knew was that the name started with "W" and ended with "craft". One short google search later, I found Wynncraft.

Interestingly enough, the server I had actually been looking for was named "Willcraft". While I wish I could've actually explored Willcraft, I am glad I didn't know the name at the time because who knows if I would've actually joined Wynncraft and gotten to where I am today in Wynncraft's community.

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Thank god we were more popular than them then.

Going back to a previous answer of yours, why are you studying engineering, I'm assuming mechanical engineering, why not something like web development?

I'm actually studying Computer engineering. I know, I know, I know. Why not computer science? Even though I have gained a proficiency in both web development and a vast number of languages in general, I can't actually see myself doing just computer science the rest of my life. I like to build things and solve problems (and also code), so that's why I have found myself studying Computer engineering. Luckily, with this major, I have the flexibility to take software engineering jobs, or if I want to, take hardware engineering jobs. In summary, I feel like it keeps my options open, which is what I want later in my career.

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That's actually a very smart idea and completely understandable.
Alright for the final question, what are your goals and ambitions in Wynncraft or life?
Whichever is easiest.

I guess for Wynncraft, I aim to make a number of things user accessible (not accessible as in access but in making things easier to use). I also have a few project ideas in mind and I hope those can be kickstarted/used.

In terms of life, I don't really know what I want to do yet, but a goal of mine is to continue to solve problems and perhaps help other people–whether it be through code, volunteer work, or other.

Well if that's the final question, I'd like to thank you for taking the time to interview me!

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Thank you for letting me interview you!

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This concludes the sixth interview for this time on Featured Wynncraftian.
The next Featured Wynncraftian will be in another 2 weeks or so maybe.
If you missed the last Featured Wynncraftian where I interviewed @dukioooo you can check it out here!

Thank you once again @colin350 for letting me interview you!​

 

nice job colin

 

Nice job colin

 

Wait a second, you're telling me that Colin is the same person that made that extremely long ban appeal on Igbar's old video?

Also, god dammit no one has yet to make a FW thread for me yet. :(

 

i fell off the chair when they started reading that in the video lul

 

pretzule mines coming up soon right?

 

congrats colin!

 

Congratz @colin350 <o/ dab

 

Is 6 tags finally happening :o

 

nice job colin

 

he dabbed his way to FW <o/

 

Wait six tags is possible??

What?? I never knew.

 

You made it possible...

Now you just need to get another rank in the next 2 weeks for 7.

 

Congratz on 6 tags!!!

 

Took long enough, congrats!! We now must bow down to the tag lord.

 

ANIMEEEEEEEEEE
Grats

 

Why am i not on there D: i make good high quality posts

 

Congrats! I was going to nominate you lmao...
I didn't know someone else already did :p

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#colin4mod

 

hold up. You're the guy from Igbar's video? No way the same dude who made me cringe is the same person working for wynncraft.

Gratz on that, I guess... Still mindblown

 

Why isn’t this pinned? Oh ye Gratz Colin

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Why isn’t this pinned? Oh ye Gratz Colin