I'm not sure I'll end up pushing "Post" on this, but we'll see. On the anniversary of my birth, I thought I'd think back, at least as far as my memory allows...
For the last 2 years I have been doing .NET web database development in C#. I also find myself doing some MS Access and Crystal reports although not so much Access lately... all good stuff, I could do this forever I think!
I spend all available 'free' time playing with and writing about Silverlight, and because of that I received the MVP award from Microsoft on July 1 as "Visual Developer - Client Application Development" ... very cool, and very much appreciated.
2000 to 2005 I worked for a daily-struggling-to-stay-alive company doing Windows apps with MFC and the Win32 SDK in C++ ... fun, but a personal financial failure... just when I helped them get back on their feet they laid me off with no severance, although my wife says it was a blessing.. maybe she just didn't like me working from home the last couple years :)
In
1999 I worked for a .COM helping fix up a huge single-threaded application that was released to the public too soon, although if not then, it would have never made it ... more C++ and got out early... just picked the wrong place.
1997 to 1999 I was writing repository software and associated utilities for the Windows desktop also in C++.
1995 to 1997 was a bi-lingual customer service desktop application for a bank in Mexico City in C++ and probably for Windows '98. I remember as I was leaving there I was just using VC6 Beta.
1985 to 1995 was spent slogging through a large corporate environment trying to decide if I really wanted to stare down the barrel of retirement or if I wanted to really write code for a living ... code won :) During this time I learned Windows development first in C on Borland then MFC, and released some shareware which needed a company name, and WynApse was born (~1992).
1981 to 1985 was spent in a series of small companies. I wrote the BIOS for CP/M-86 twice and MS-DOS 86 once in addition to other X86 assembler work.
1979 to 1981 was in a large corporate environment writing assembly code on VT terminals getting 2 compiles a day, receiving reams of green-bar paper to go through and desk-check. Had an opportunity to split and write 'PC' software and jumped on it.
1977 to 1979 was in a huge government installation being a gopher with a Master's Degree in Electrical Engineering, and for a short time got to try my hand at what Electrical Engineers really do. I decided as an Electrical Engineer, I'm a great Software Engineer :)
Prior to 1977 I programmed with paper tape and before that card decks. I think if there's a way to program something I've probably done it, and if there is a type of software on a PC, I've written one.
1970 to 1973 Wore a uniform in the service of the U.S. Army
Summer of 1969 I was mentored on a BASIC time-share system on a teletype, and learned I really liked software.
Fall of 1968 turned my first line of code in Fortran IV... hated it.
So that gets me all the way back. Just gotta keep pushing, keep learning, and stay in the game... here's to another 30 years ??
Oh.. and the number for today is 59 ... or as I like to tell all the young guys that are age-sensitive, 32 base 19 :)
posted @ Thursday, August 02, 2007 3:25 PM