I have been in IT professionally for seventeen years. I started out as unix administration and support and worked my way into programming. I first started writing web apps in 1995. In 1996 I took a position at a medium sized midwestern university where I developed an in house single sign on system (written in C and Perl). Shortly after the security system was in place online grades, voting, and a primitive portal followed in rapid succession.
I have been working exclusively in java for several years. About a year ago, August 07, I moved into private industry and started working for Iowa Foundation for Medical Care. At IFMC I was put in charge of upgrading our CAS deployment. As I learned more about CAS I discovered it resembled very closely what I had developed inhouse in my prior position.
I almost exclusively work in java now but I have great personal interest in .net as well. I still enjoy messing around on unix when I get the chance. In my spare time I teach as an Adjunct Instructor, I have taught various programming languages classes (bash, ruby, perl), and I have taught computer networking.
I am a firm believer in investing up front time to do something "the right way" and that it will pay off in the end with a product that is maintainable, extensible and usable.
I have an undergraduate degree in CS from Iowa State University, and an MS in CS from University of Northern Iowa. I am currently enrolled in the MBA program at the University of Iowa.