My name is Matt Drennan, and I am 30 years old. I have an Associates Degree from Lake-Sumter State College (Leesburg, FL) and a Bachelors Degree in Computer Technology and Software Development from Valencia College (Orlando, FL). I love my community and have a passion for keeping it safe. I'm currently employed as a Law Enforcement Officer. In my free time, I volunteer with Makaze Squad of the 501st Legion. The 501st Legion is a volunteer Star Wars costuming club, who depict the bad guys of the Star Wars trilogy. I have four different costumes: A New Hope Stormtrooper, First Order Stormtrooper, Darth Revan, and Spec Ops Shadow Scout. I volunteer just about every weekend at local events, children hospitals, and Give Kids The World. My other passion in life is computers and technology. Since I was 13 years old, I have been programming and playing with computers.
I could sit and program for days on end, it brings me the greatest joy. I started out by downloading open source software projects online. I would remove, add, and edit code to see what happened. One day, I found myself staring at the running application window of a game project I downloaded. I thought to myself, "I could make and create anything I want, even my own world." This is when my interest in programming suddenly sparked.
My first programming projects were simple, such as a basic PHP web forum that allowed the website owner to integrate the forum into any exisiting database. The website owner only had to modify three variables in the config file. I've created simple flash games (Flash Zoo Builder, Trail of the Dead), and even a Xbox 360 Controller Emulator Software. The software allowed anyone to control the computer with an Xbox controller using the Microsoft XNA library. I knew I was onto something when a random stranger donated $25 (which was a lot to my young self) to support my web forum software.
In 2009, my father was having a really difficult time with my sister's behavior during my parents divorce, so I came up with an idea. I created a website hosted on my WAMP home server that allowed my father to set my sister, Megan, to naughty or nice, and give a reason why. To my surprise, my sister never caught on that I made the website, and she would check the list multiple times a day. I was so excited that the idea worked, I immediately began work on a prototype for the public. I recruited my friend, Rielly Donnell, to help design the website, while I did the coding. Before we knew it, we were on the local news and paper for our site (videos below)! The rest is history!
I'm currently working on several projects and countless ideas that come to mind everyday. No matter what I do, or where my life takes me; I know I will always be programming and making my ideas come to life.
I do freelancing, contact me about it!
Star Wars Celebration - 2011
Featured in the DailyCommerical.
My Xenomorph costume from the movie "Alien."
My Darth Revan costume from the video game "Knights of the Old Republic."
My FOTK costume from the movie "Star Wars: The Force Awakens."