Hello! I'm Lucas Clark. I'm a recent graduate from UC Berkeley where I studied Computer Science and Music. I'm fascinated by the relationship people have with technology, and I love thinking about ways that I can simplify, ease, or otherwise improve it.

I'm currently looking for a full-time position in Software Engineering, Information Technology, or any other field where I can empower people through technology. You can download my resume here. If you or someone you know is looking to hire someone like me, please let me know!

Education

I graduated from University of California, Berkeley with two degrees: a B.A. in Computer Science from the College of Computing, Data Science, and Society; and a B.A. in Music from the College of Letters and Sciences. In High School, I was torn between whether I should study Music or Computer Science, and after being accepted to UC Berkeley, I did some research and realized I could double major!

Most of the required courses for my Music major were surprisingly traditional. For example, in my first semester I took piano lessons with the university. For my repertoire, I selected Henry Cowell - The Voice of Lir (1922) and an arrangement of Yu-Peng Chen - Moon in One's Cup from Genshin Impact (2020). The jury who evaluated my playing at the end of the semester didn't like this selection because they were from the same "era" of classical music. I felt this was a very reductive approach, especially since the style, techniques, and context of the pieces were very different (art music vs. video game music). I did take some music classes that approached music with a more modern mindset. I look back fondly on my discussion-based upper-division music history class which was focused on the Vinyl LP and the ways it changed the way we interact with music. I also took a class with CNMAT that taught Max MSP, a visual-programming music synthesis program which was fascinating to learn about and use.

My undergraduate Computer Science courses were challenging but rewarding. The content was sometimes hard to grasp, but once I wrapped my head around them I could see the applications even beyond programming. One common theme in the Linear Algebra courses I took was change of basis. In essence, this is the idea that we can perform a reversible action to change our perspective on a problem, making it easier to solve. This is something that is broadly applicable outside of linear algebra and is generally a fun abstraction to ponder.

I leaned a little more into computer science than music, but I don't regret my music major. It was refreshing to be studying two subjects that were quite different, and it helped me become more well-rounded as a person.

Hobbies

Currently, my main hobby is playing ITGmania, an open-source, community-driven version of Dance Dance Revolution. In high school I designed and built a miniature dance pad for the hyper-efficient stamina gameplay style. You can watch me play and see it in action on my Twitch. While at UC Berkeley I started Dance Games at Berkeley, a club focused on arcade-style dance games. I raised funding and secured space for our club's own Dance Dance Revolution machine that I upgraded with modern hardware and ITGmania. Starting Dance Games at Berkeley showed me how I could apply my technical skills to make a difference in peoples' lives, and it sparked my passion for finding ways to iterate on existing systems to make them better.

I have some personal projects that I've been working on in my free time. Usually, my programming projects are sparked when I encounter a problem that could be addressed with technology, and I use this opportunity to learn and practice a technology that I've been wanting to learn more about.

I also like to cook, play video games with my friends online, and listen to Northernlion's expertly crafted banter while doing chores.