Getting to Know Kevin
Kevin Wood is a freelance writer who specializes in technical and online marketing content. With a background in philosophy, his strange fascination with dry and boring topics comes in handy by making complex marketing and technology topics accessible and interesting to readers.
Kevin was born, raised, and schooled in California. Once the college years were over he headed to the high mountains of Colorado with nothing but his laptop. It was here he left the world of freelance web development behind and became the writer you see here.
Before he found his home on the internet he held a few interesting jobs like doing marketing for a clean energy startup, working as a maintenance man for a mountain resort, and teaching kids how to ski.
He originally wrote for small marketing companies. Eventually, he’s expanded his range to include some of the top blogs in the online marketing and technology space. But, to prove he’s human and not a robot, he’s also written popular articles for sites like Thought Catalog and Elephant Journal.
Our Interview with Kevin
find out more about Kevin in our interview.
How did you get into technology and web development?
I’ve always been obsessed with technology. Not in the buying the latest gadget way, but more in the breaking things and looking inside way. I remember installing Linux on the first iPod, so I could watch grainy black and white episodes of The Office wherever I went. As I got older this fascination took a backseat until I started teaching myself programming basics in college.
How’d you get into technical writing?
I started building websites in college, which turned into working as a freelance developer. I mostly played with WordPress and did some custom stuff with Genesis. But, after burning out with the client grind, I heard of this thing called blogging. I’d written a bit for a few client sites and thought getting paid to write was the coolest thing ever. So, I quit building websites and took to writing full-time. I guess you could say I graduated.
What are your favorite books?
My reading interests are all over the place. But most of the books I read fall across the poetry, philosophy, and dystopian fiction spectrum. Favorite writer? John Williams. He wrote three of my favorite books of all time: Butcher’s Crossing, Augustus, and Stoner.
Where are you in the world?
I move around a lot. But as of today (November 12th 2017), I live in the tiny mountain town of Truckee, CA.
When you aren’t sitting in front of a computer, what are you doing?
I’m most likely moving my body in some way. Walking through the woods, riding my bike, lifting heavy things, or doing yoga. I enjoy this and would do it anyway, but it is also an effort to offset the hours I sit glued to my screen.
What was the first website you ever built?
In high school, I took a website design class that more or less was a glorified graphic design course. The site I created ended up being a mock real estate website, built in Microsoft Frontpage. It was glorious, with a bright yellow font on a dark blue background, with flash snowflakes appearing on the screen.
How did you learn web development?
I think my first dip into web development was from a few courses on Udemy. Then I discovered the “Programming” section at Barnes & Noble. I built a few sites for myself, then for friends, then people on craigslist, and finally for some actual companies.
What do you love about freelance writing?
I love being able to open my laptop, mash my fingers against the keys, and having money magically showing up in my bank account. Weird. But actually, I really enjoy the freedom of being able to choose when I’ll work. I like diving into diverse topics, and getting paid to write. That’s really a dream come true.
Selected WhoIsHostingThis Writing
In addition to his writing for WhoIsHostingThis.com, Kevin writes for many of our sister sites like Digital.com and Blogging.com. Here is a small collection of the work he has done here.
Linked List Basics: if you are going to call yourself a programmer, you must know how to create a linked list. This article takes you from knowing nothing to writing your first linked list.
Webnode Website Builder Profile: find out all about the Webnode website builder and if it is right for you with Kevin’s objective analysis of it.
Guide to Writing Efficient CSS: CSS parses code in an unusual way, and it is easy to create nice looking code that is very slow. This article shows you how to write lightning-fast CSS code.
BoldGrid Profile: BoldGrid is an unusual sitebuilder in that it is built on top of WordPress. So if WordPress is your thing, it is worth looking into. This profile will give you a good start.
1ShoppingCart Introduction: as one of the oldest online stores around, 1ShoppingCart has a good reputation. Should you trust it? Find out here.
Ultimate List of Programming Books: programming is too complicated a subject not to require that coders have a solid collection of books to reference. In this article, Kevin has put together a list of the 101 books that every programmer must have and the reasons why.
Elsewhere on the Web
Kevin can be found elsewhere on the web:
Learn more about the WhoIsHostingThis authors and editors here.
Comments