Seasoned. Competent. Professional.
Sure. But, do you have technical skills: ?
…Of course I do !
In addition to my broad experience and exposure to implementing process, and my decidedly “business” focus, try to remember that I am a fully degreed engineer (1979 – BS, Computer Science – Worcester Polytechnic Institute) and continue to hone and perfect my extensive technical skills regardless of, and in addition to, my other responsibilities. It’s in my blood.
I maintain a full development environment in which I run Windows (in all flavors – from NT4SP6a to Server 2003), Linux (Solaris, RedHat Mandrake, and others), I do web development using Macromedia (Dreamweaver, Flash MX 2004, Fireworks), SWiSH, Adobe (InDesign, FrameMaker, Photoshop), Microsoft FrontPage and SharePoint Services, PHP, JavaScript, Apache, PostNuke, WordPress), code in C, Java, Visual C++, develop data bases with MySQL, MS SQLserver, and Oracle, configure network services, like TCP/IP, DNS, WINS and DHCP, deploy shareable storage using Active Directory and Samba, and install and configure routers, proxy appliances, install wireless LANs, and configure frame-relay and DSL wide-area connections, and pretty much anything else I get my hands on.
If you review my unabridged resume, and you will see that I have coded with “the best of them”. I have maintained tediously complex financial applications on Wall Street, and written fault-tolerant low-level realtime, event-driven C-code at places like Bell Communications Research, not to mention, having designed entire application “frameworks”, long before this term made it into the common vernacular. Consequently, I am familiar with many of the hardware and software systems stretching across more than two decades of computing. (did somebody say “compatibility” ?) Most importantly, I remember why only a few of them succeeded and why a good many of them failed.
I participate within the Microsoft Developer Network (MSDN) and the Open Source community through sites such as SourceForge.NET. so I, like many others, have a vast number of reliable resources to resolve any technical problem or issues that would arise during my engagement or employment with yourself or your client, that I could not directly address.
This web site, itself is, in fact, based on an Open Source environment known as WordPress. It’s imporant to remember, that guys like me are why tools are ubiquitously available, programmers are plentiful, and, for the most part, technology is, on balance, more reliable. (all those sleepless nights!)
Admittedly, I may not be the prolific coder, that I once was, but I have never been unable to solve a technical problem that I was presented with, and I know that the the breadth and depth of my experience, and shear determination makes me the tremendous asset that I am. Believe-you-me, if you are tasked with writing realtime device drivers, or designing and coding portions of the measurement system for the nation’s telephone network, you not only test it – but you test it very, very thoroughly!
I still write code, and have continued to do so for over thirty-years. Believe it.
So please, although, I may not have twenty-five years of J2EE or ASP.NET or can roll off my tongue, every “rewrite rule” directive variant available in an Apache webserver’s .htaccess file, but I certainly can develop code, install operating systems, configure network or web services, debug bizarre interactions between obscure hardware and poorly-written software, and get your very-important-new-feature “in” or your mission critical application “up-and-running” reliably in the middle of the night without breaking a sweat…and, no doubt, train a whole slew of other dedicated people to do the same, on your behalf…
…and I won’t risk your business on the “bleeding edge” of technology just to enhance my skill set, either.
Think about it!
-m