Welcome to the website of Mike Brennan. I'm a software engineer with 10+ years experience doing software development. However, I took a career break a few years ago when the dot-com bubble burst and my father became critically ill. I had the good fortune of having substantial investment savings I had acquired from stock options, so I felt I could afford to take the career break.

I had been so focused on my career for so many years that I had not even read any books that were not programming references or similar technical materials. When I took a step back, I rediscovered some lost loves — including critical theory and philosophy — and I found myself reflecting quite a bit on my whole life and spirituality. I began asking many deep questions and feeling like there was something lacking in my life. These studies ultimately led me to Zen Buddhism. This has come to anchor my life and I don't feel vexed by the same questions anymore. My father recovered from his illness — though he's still struggling — and I believe our relationship has been strengthened by the experience. Now my studies have turned back again to software development.

I purchased a new PC with Ubuntu Linux, downloaded a suite of development tools for J2EE and web development, setup a server environment on my PC with Apache web server, Tomcat, Jetty, MySQL — as well as PHP, which my ISP supports for hosted websites — and am now actively engaged in refreshing my skills and pursuing independent development projects while I try to find permanent employment or contract gigs. I have decided to try writing about this experience while I go forward at my blog, The Perennial Programmer »

I continue, of course, to practice Zen. Though I'm not sure how much I have to say on the subject, I have a strong interest in Zen and its intersection with philosophy and am trying my hand at writing on such matters at my other blog, Shunyata Piñata »