Experience
- Apple Computer (1990-1995): Quite a job to get right out of college. I spent my entire 5+ years there in the development tools group (i.e. linkers, compilers, debuggers), because I found compiler work in college to be a lot of fun (take a few moments to digest that statement). I was able to span all portions of the software development lifecycle at Apple, starting as a build engineer (configuration management), moving on to QA and testing, then support development, and finally, as a senior engineer, design. The majority of the work there was focused on Apple’s Mac transition from the Motorola 68k series CPU’s to the RISC PowerPC from IBM, and working on debuggers to support development systems for the new RISC series of PowerPC’s.. But, by 1995, it was obvious that Microsoft had a stranglehold on the computer industry, and was beginning to feel left out, and I was getting burned out after working on the same type of project for five years.
- The Windward Group (1995-2000): Windward was a software development consulting group. To date, the best job I’ve had, thanks to a combination of smart, easy to get along with people, with some intriguing projects and partners. Windward was involved in an early development partnership with Palm, and helped write software for the first Pilot (before it became Palm Pilot, and then just Palm). Other clients included FedEx, and several startups. I was intially responsible for creating Macintosh versions of products for Palm and FedEx, and then started working on the Windows versions. I was involved in a few Palm-based projects, as well as a point of sale system using ASP and SQL Server on a very early tablet PC. In late 1999, I was promoted to a software architect, responsible for overseeing the design and implementation of several projects. Unfortunately, Windward became a casualty of the dot bubble. Not the dot bomb, mind you, but the bubble before it burst. Windward was sold to a somewhat faceless company (so faceless I can’t even remember their name), and a lot of the founding folks started to leave. Startups abounded with exorbitant salaries, and pulled even more people from the company, including myself.
- Syndeo Corporation (2000-2003): I took a gamble at the height of the dot bubble and left the security and stability of a consulting firm for a startup in which I would create a Palm-based address book application. The address book synchronized with a voice over IP (VoIP) telephone switches’ address book. Things started falling apart soon after my arrival, and the Palm application and synchronization components I was working on were dropped. At that point, I started working on the web equivalent of the address book, as well as the administrative user interface for the switch. My initial responsibilites were as a senior developer, but I was promoted to a team leader/manager position after about a year. I worked with some great folks on my team, and my experience at Syndeo finally brought my Java biggotry to an end. The biggest problem at Syndeo was that I was on a small UI team in a very non-UI company. By the time I’d realized that things weren’t going to work out, the bubble had started to burst.
- A mish-mash of odd jobs: As with many others during the early part of the decade, the dot-bomb hit me pretty hard. I did manage to find a few contract-based jobs dealing with health insurance, banking, and linux system administration. I spent some time putting the finishing touches on a task management and timekeeping/billing project, something that I started while at Windward, and continue to use to this day. The final product was written with PHP (a language I leared during my forced sabbatical) and MySQL. A Java application version is currently under development. During this time, I also tried stab at a new career as a dispatcher for a large Bay Area fire department. While that didn’t work out (I did make it to the final 6 candidates out of about 350), I’m glad I did it, because it was quite an educational experience seeing how the 911 system works from the inside.
- Administrative Systems, Inc. (2004-2009): This position arose from one of the mish-mash of jobs at the end of the tech decline. I started as a contractor for this pension/retirement disbursement administrator to complete development on a stop-gap web solution, and then design and develop a full-fledged Java-based web application using 21st century hardware, software and development methodologies. While this may not have been the sexiest work around, it did provide the opportunity to design a potentially market leading application from the ground up. As the software architect, my focus is on creating and maintaining proper design documentation, ensuring that all code is up to standard (including web standards for properly formed HTML and CSS), and that the product is aesthetically pleasing and functional.
- [CURRENT EMPLOYER] (2009-present): Solutions Architect at a Fortune 500 subsidiary, responsible for the technical vision and direction of an automotive repair web application.