About Me

There are two factors to consider when choosing a programmer: the work and the person. You’ll want to be happy with both.

I have a degree in Management Information Systems from the University of Arizona, but that has little to do with my programming skills. However when coupled with many years experience as a small businessman it gives me a strong advantage in analyzing information management needs and proposing and implementing intelligent solutions.

My programming ability came about both from interest and need. The first programs I wrote were in high school in 1978 on a DEC teletype machine connected by phone to a mainframe at a community college 70 miles away. A few years later I was paying for part of my college expenses by writing educational software for the Apple //e. My first consulting business out of college was centered around software support and training, but included a considerable amount of custom software development for my clients. Not long after that the focus of my business shifted to custom software exclusively, in fact there are clients from the late 80’s that are still using the same programs that I wrote for them then.

There has not been a time in the last years, regardless of what other vocations or avocations I was immersed in, when writing code wasn’t a significant part of my life. Virtually every enterprise or organization I’ve been involved in has been a client or beneficiary of software I’ve written. As a consultant, my approach to it is pretty simple:

• I focus on designing and providing efficient solutions to information management and communication needs. I begin by helping my clients clearly identify those needs.
• My strength is in the mechanics of making a program or site function well. For publicly accessible sites I do modest visual design but more often work with clients’ existing designs or collaborate with others on the look of the site. I have experience with numerous graphic designers available for consultation.
• I want the software that I write, or the website that I build, to be the finest example of work that a client has contracted out.
• Functionality and reliability are job #1. I want clients to refer to their software as the last thing that they worry about in their operation.
• When it comes to recommendations and referrals, I seek to be the first vendor that my clients’ introduce to others.

I have been doing this a long time and have no intention of ever retiring from writing, maintaining, and hosting software. I’d like to be with my clients, as their “software guy,” for life.

My clients are my best and only salespeople. Take a moment to hear and see what Theresa Barnabei of Course Creators has to say about working with me.