I left college when I was 20 years old on a college work visa.  I moved from Bowling Green, Ohio, to Dublin, Ireland, and was hired as a web developer in January 2000.  Over the course of a few years, I learned and practiced web development.  The technologies I worked with included HTML, CSS, JavaScript, Classic ASP, Visual Basic, Java, COM, and SQL Server.  This was before Microsoft .NET really took hold in the industry.  There was true separation of concerns between the user interface, application layer, and data tier in three-tier application model.  Visual Basic or Java code was separated from the frontend into COM objects that were registered on a Microsoft Windows server.  I worked on web applications, such as an Irish genealogy website, a document management web application, an e-learning website, and more.

After a few years in Ireland, I moved back to America and spent 10 years as a Programmer/Analyst, including 2 years in a senior role.  I continued developing web applications in Microsoft technologies, including .NET.  I spent some time leading a project using the Agile project management methodology, while also mentoring a couple of developers.  The companies I worked for were manufacturing and engineering firms.  I worked on a variety of web and enterprise systems, including a service management web application, an e-commerce website, and a quoting system, among others.

After working as a Senior Programmer/Analyst and obtaining a bachelor's degree in business administration specializing in Information Systems and Technology, along with obtaining an MBA, I decided to focus full-time on technology, and became a software developer instead of making the transition to a more business-oriented career.  As a software developer, I have worked on .NET and Java-based applications in different industries.  I have done both frontend development, backend development, as well as designing databases and programming them.  After 25 years in software development, I'm looking forward to seeing the direction in which my career goes from here.