Joel Hooks is a Flash Platform developer with experience in Actionscript 3, Flex, and Python. Joel spent the first 13 years of his professional career as a 3D animator and graphic designer working on computer based training applications from that perspective. His interest in programming goes as far back as “TELL TURTLE” and he has always been interested in the technological challenges related to developing software making work a little bit easier. With the introduction of Actionscript 3, Joel finally found a platform that allows him to architect useful tools while fully leveraging his experience as a visual artist. Joel is passionate about technology and enjoys exploring the landscape of frameworks, libraries, and tools that make his work constantly fun and challenging.

Joel currently resides in Fort Worth and works for Universal Mind providing clients with oodles of clean code and a focus on test driven development solutions. Joel can be found blogging on various Flex development topics at http://joelhooks.com’

Outside of developing software tools Joel owns a photography studio visualempathy.com with his wife who also collaborates on the raising and nurturing of his four children aged 12 to 3 years old.