Who is Ryan Bruce?

I’m still asking myself this, and it’s really still a work in progress. I actually kinda like that I have some many facets to me; keeps me a unique little snowflake.

The Techie

I fully revel in the fact being a geek is just part of my DNA. My paternal grandfather is a techie, my dad is a techie, and I’m a techie. I’ve loved computers since before my parents owned a Commodore 64, and “modded” my first computer back in high school: An IBM Aptiva with an AMD K6-2! (Man, I can’t believe I remember that 16 years later..)

I’m a complete gadget guy,(but I do my best to keep it in check); I own a Nexus 5 that I subjected to Lollipop developer previews, but have so far resisted Android Wear (I think I’ll wait for Gen II devices). With the exception of my Nexus devices, everything I’ve owned has gone through dozens of ROMs and flavors of Android, trying to eek at every last ounce of performance from last-gen (or older) phones and tablets. A Nook Color is definitely not supposed to be running KitKat, but hey, why not try..? FOR SCIENCE!

The Entrepreneur

I may have retired from my Sno-Cone empire at the age of 9, but the entrepreneur bug was pretty well planted by then anyway. I’ve turned my love of tech into a few businesses over the year, and supplied a steady stream of beer money during college. I do it more as a hobby than anything, because low risk = low reward.

A few past/paused (while I’m in Ireland) examples :

University Techs (I haven’t touched this site in 5 years. Ew.)
A Dell Premier Partner, and Intel Gold Partner. Selling exclusively online to a small market, I was able to work my way up the ranks in Dell to become a Premier Partner. If you’re in the market for servers or networking gear, I can set you up with a great price!

OnForce Tech
This got my foot in the door with a ton of great companies over the years! I was able to wear a different hat every day I went out, which made it all the more awesome. One day I might be fixing the server at a vet’s office, another day I’ll be troubleshooting a US Representative’s computer on behalf of Lockheed Martin.

Something I’m working on now:

pRECHARGEd
I got tired of my phone dying when I was on trips and it was always nowhere near a convenient outlet. I know I’m not the only one, because I see tourists asking Dublin area bartenders to charge their phone all the time. The project’s still in the early phases, but I hope to get it on a trial basis fairly soon! I already have €300 worth of power banks sitting in my bedroom just waiting for a less rainy weekend.

The Musician

Music is a fundamental part of who I am. I currently sing Bass II in a startup Irish choir called Cuore. I also manage their social feeds so you should totally Like/Follow them! Before that, I performed in the University of Oregon’s University Singers program. I wanted to sing in the Chamber Choir (I prefer that style of music) but unfortunately it didn’t line up with my class schedule.

In addition to singing, I also took private piano lessons for a year and a half while attending UO. I then let my skills rust (a crying shame really) but have recently purchased an electric piano and hope to get some of those lost skills back.

The Photographer

I’m really good about keeping all my photos nice and safe within my Photoshop Lightroom album. One of my bucket list items is going to be to actually go through and process some of these and get them out into the world! I’m still rather cautious with Flickr after that whole Creative Commons scandal but here’s my Flickr profile nonetheless (it’s fairly outdated, you’ve been warned). I have enough of a photo backlog that I don’t think self-hosted will work.. if you have any non-Flickr suggestions for good places to upload my work to, I’m all ears!

The Outdoorsy Guy

I’ll be the first to admit that I’m a fair-weather guy; I love hiking, biking, camping, and rafting, but I also hate getting wet (rafting and diving being the exceptions). I’m also a PADI certified diver, certified in Advanced Open Water and Dry Suit diving. Feel free to check out my Scubaearth profile! I haven’t logged any of my dives on their yet, but you can use it as a chance to see my awesome #SCUBASelfie 🙂

A few related links:

Kaimana Divers (Honolulu, HI) – I received my Open Water certification from them. Solid equipment, and they now have their own Nacho-y boat. They are a GREAT crew, and know how to show everyone a good time. Plus a few of them are Duck alum (bonus!)

Scubadive West (Renvyle, Ireland) – I received my Advanced Open Water and Dry Suit certifications from them. I had some car trouble, and Cillian saved my butt, helping me source replacement wheels after taking me into town to stop by an ATM. Equipment is in great condition too!

The Permanent Student

I value education and hope I never hit the age where I don’t want to expand my horizons.

I’m currently taking an MITx course titled “MITx: 15.390.1x Entrepreneurship 101: Who is your customer?” and then have a huge backlog of Udemy courses to go through. Subject varies, but I’m wanting to get up to speed on all the new whizbang tech out there in web design (jQuery, CSS3, HTML5) as well as mobile app development. For my full course list, click here to check out my Udemy Profile!

I also enjoy puttering around on Smarterer and Duolingo when I have some time to kill!

The Beer Guy

Every time I’m in the pub or restaurant, the first thing I do is check out the tap list and bottle selections. So far, I’ve been fortunate enough to find and try 354 beers! Oregon is a beer mecca, which makes it quite easy to hit though numbers. Just hitting up Bend, OR on a 3-day weekend can introduce you to tons of different beer varieties. There’s bound to be several that you’ll love! Come check out my Untappd profile if you want to see what I’ve tried so far. Feel free to scold me for rating your favorite beer so lowly. Just better come up with a good argument!