# My journey in software engineering > From Flash games and Unity demos to Algolux, ÉTS capstones, co-ops, and today’s backend, platform, and DevSecOps work—a personal timeline with project links. - HTML page: https://antoineboucher.info/CV/blog/posts/software-engineering-journey/ - Language: en - Translation (fr): https://antoineboucher.info/CV/blog/fr/posts/software-engineering-journey/index.md - Published: 2023-12-30 - Updated: 2026-05-22 - Tags: Software Engineering, Career, Learning, Backend, DevSecOps, Platform Engineering - Author: Antoine Boucher (https://antoineboucher.info/CV/index-en.html)I did not start in Kubernetes. I started in browser tabs, game loops, and a makerspace that smelled like hot PLA. This post is the longer version of that path—**backend**, **platform**, and **DevSecOps** are where I landed, but the steps in between matter. ## The arc (one glance) Career flow ([Mermaid source](https://antoineboucher.info/CV/blog/posts/software-engineering-journey/images/career-journey-flow.mmd)): ![Career journey from Flash games and college makerspace to backend platform work today](https://antoineboucher.info/CV/blog/posts/software-engineering-journey/images/career-journey-flow.svg) *Figure: milestones from browser games and makerspace demos through ÉTS capstones, co-ops, and today’s platform/backend focus. Rendered from [`career-journey-flow.mmd`](https://antoineboucher.info/CV/blog/posts/software-engineering-journey/images/career-journey-flow.mmd).* *Color key:* green personal · blue school · purple club · gray co-op · slate full-time job · orange contract · pink teaching · amber today. The diagram is the map; the sections below are the stories I tell in interviews when someone asks “how did you end up doing platform work?” ## ~2010 — Game developer energy, Flash and the web In high school I was already building small **browser games in Flash** and picking up **HTML and JavaScript**. Progress meant something you could click: a loop that runs, a score that updates, a page that loads without embarrassing you in front of friends. That habit—ship something playable, then fix what feels wrong—never really left. Years later I packaged some of that nostalgia as [FlashGames](https://antoinebou12.github.io/FlashGames/) (Ruffle in the browser) and a https://antoineboucher.info/CV/blog/projects/retroarch-web-games/ Docker setup for classic consoles. ## ~2015 — A game portfolio, then bigger engines By college I was curating a **portfolio of game projects** and redoing favorites in **Unity**, **CryEngine**, and **Unreal**. Same motivation, heavier tools: lighting, physics, assets that take a week to look “fine.” It taught me scope. A jam game and a semester demo do not owe each other the same bar—but both owe you honest playtesting. That scope sense shows up later when I refuse to boil the ocean on a single microservice migration — I want a playable milestone every week. ## ~2017 — Makerspace, WiFi RC, web as a serious path At **Collégial International Sainte-Anne** I managed the **makerspace**: 3D printers, VR gear, students stuck on wiring at 4 p.m. on a Friday. I also built a **WiFi-controlled RC car**—the kind of project where firmware, mechanical slack, and “why does it only steer left?” share the same afternoon. That year I leaned into **web development** for real: less “scene in a game engine,” more “product someone uses every week.” ## 2018 — Algolux internship (computational imaging) My **Algolux** internship was five weeks inside computational photography: Python tools, RAW color analysis, capture workflows, Ansible stacks for ISP validation. I still have the research poster from that period—it is the bridge between “I like code” and “I like systems that touch the physical world.” ![Research poster — AI for image quality optimization, Algolux internship, Collégial Sainte-Anne](https://antoineboucher.info/CV/blog/posts/software-engineering-journey/images/algolux-research-poster.png) Concrete leftovers on this site: https://antoineboucher.info/CV/blog/projects/rawanalyser/ (RAW clipping and calibration helpers, Algolux-era lineage). Lab work was spreadsheets, cameras, and scripts—not shiny product pages—but it trained the same loop I use today: **measure, automate, document**. ## ÉTS — Hydroglisseur, AlgoÉTS, and the web stack **École de technologie supérieure (ÉTS)** is where school projects stacked into something like a career. **Technological path (2017–2018)** — capstone **hydroglisseur** (hovercraft): blue skirt, lift fan, 3D-printed parts, wood and foam and stubborn debugging. The kind of build that teaches integration before microservices. ![ÉTS hydroglisseur prototype — lift fan, wooden deck, and blue inflatable skirt on the workshop floor](https://antoineboucher.info/CV/blog/posts/software-engineering-journey/images/ets-hydroglisseur-prototype.png) **Bachelor (2018–2023)** — coursework plus clubs. I helped run **[AlgoÉTS](https://algoets.etsmtl.ca/)** (algorithmic trading); we ran workshops like **Python 101 for data science** for members who wanted to move from “I use Python” to “I trust my pandas.” ![AlgoÉTS Python 101 — Science des données session on a classroom display](https://antoineboucher.info/CV/blog/posts/software-engineering-journey/images/algoets-python-101.png) That club work connects to open source I still maintain: the https://antoineboucher.info/CV/blog/projects/marketwatch/ Python library for the stock-market game. Same itch—**automate the boring path so humans can focus on decisions**. **Co-ops (2019–2022)** — [Wandrian](https://wandrian.com/), [Power Go](https://www.powergo.ca/), [Intact](https://www.intact.ca/): parsers, APIs, ELK dashboards, and backend work where the titles finally matched the daily grind. **Full-time (2023)** — [IONODES](https://ionodes.com/): cloud developer on an IoT platform—Auth0 tiers, Sentry, ONVIF/WebRTC, Azure DevOps. **Master (2023–2026)** — ÉTS: **real-time rendering**, **interactive physics**, and **surface wear in real time**, with dynamic friction and textures—the thread that ties graphics back to the path. ## 2020s — Platform, security, teaching After graduation the problems moved up a layer: - **GitLab CI/CD**, **GCP**, Java microservices, **Playwright** tests (IMC2 research). - **DevSecOps labs** at Polytechnique Montréal—GitLab templates for ~20 teams, Docker/Kubernetes, OWASP-minded reviews. - **Teaching** at ÉTS: distributed databases, mobile UX labs, integrator projects—courseware is also software delivery. - The [GraphQuon conference website](https://graphquon.github.io/). ## What stayed constant (the “human” part) Early on I measured progress in **features shipped**. Now I care whether the system stays understandable when you are not in the room: - **Backend** — boundaries, failure modes, APIs that do not surprise the next team. - **Platform** — CI, logging, local dev that works without a heroic README. - **DevSecOps** — secrets, dependencies, and deploy paths that are boring on purpose. Reliability is trust. Security is not a final gate—it is habits in the pipeline. I still write posts and draw flows because explaining something badly is how I notice what I do not understand. ## What I optimize for next Sharper platforms, safer delivery, legible systems as they grow. If you are early in the path: follow problems where you see the **whole loop**—code, deploy, operate, improve. I happened to start that loop with Flash and a hovercraft; you might start somewhere else. The loop is the job. More concrete write-ups live under [posts](https://antoineboucher.info/CV/blog/posts/) and [projects](https://antoineboucher.info/CV/blog/projects/) on this site. ## Related posts - [GraphQuon 2024 — ÉTS](https://antoineboucher.info/CV/blog/posts/graphquon-2024-ets/) and [GraphQuon 2025 — Toronto](https://antoineboucher.info/CV/blog/posts/graphquon-2025-university-of-toronto/) — graphics research community - [CodePen demos](https://antoineboucher.info/CV/blog/posts/codepen-demos-antoinebou13/) — early web experiments - [Professional résumé + JSON Resume](https://antoineboucher.info/CV/blog/posts/professional-resume-json-resume/) — how this timeline becomes a CV