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I never did do well with school. Barely got my grade 12 ;vP I did win science and engineering awards at fairs during high school. I have had amazing career/learning opportunities working along side and for very knowledgeable people.
I've loved and worked with all sorts of computers since I was about 16 years of age. That's a bit before the age of the PC! So... computers like: Timex Sinclar, TRS80's, Commodore... up to... Sparc stations, Digital Equipment PDP44's and finally embedded/industrial systems/controllers.
One of my first business apps was on a RS Tandy Colour computer for a video rental store!
My first employment was as a BASIC programmer. I built a swine herd management system for farmers.
I worked as a consultant at two different times during my career. First as a office systems integrator, and then as an embedded systems programmer/technician.
I built libraries (in C) for a Canadian flight-planning firm called Navtech (not the map people, but a company in Waterloo, ON). Including report generator, db access/control and UI modules (before the days that SQL and other tools like IDE's were really adopted and available). I was a Unix and C programmer by trade.
I built and rented out a 'show' robot (Heath-kit era). I've written imaging equipment SCSI device drivers (for Sparc).
Embedded systems were varied languages and many interfaced with electronics I designed/created for these.
I've coded in many languages. Most C like but also Python, Ruby, Dibol, Pascal, IRL and other sorts of embedded and scripting languages.
I work as an IT Director for a Canadian Missions Teams NPO - and love it.
I find myself loving most things Cloud, and service based. I find myself coding web-apps as well, just cuz they're multi platform and there are some great tools to make the job easier. Google remains at the top of my list, just because users adopt it so readily and they offer so much (collaboration, notification, apps-script, workflow tools...). I enjoy the challenge of designing good UI's and apps. The balance of simplicity and thinking like a users - not a programmer. I also enjoy finding ready-made solutions that users actually want to use - and that help them do their jobs better!
I enjoy teaching/training and user support as well. The challenge of seeing things from a user perspective and making things work for them!
My Hobbies include hobby engineering - design and build bikes and campers mostly. Lots of reno and decorating work in my home and my kids homes.
I have a wonderful family that mean more to me than anything else this world can offer! I became a grandpa in 2012 and am in-love with two twin girls, all over again!! :v)
