I have been a:
- software engineer for 30 years
- unix (in many varieties) developer for 20 years
- web developer for 10 years
- php developer for 6 years
- joomla developer for 2 months
If you can't sleep, you could read my long and illustrious resume, however the quick story is that I started as a programmer, worked at many technical development and leadership positions, and now I'm back in the code as an independent consultant and freelance developer.
That's one of the reason's I decided to call this blog "still in development". Because after earning my MBA, then leading, managing and directing development teams: I'm still doing software development. I actually never stopped, I'm just doing it full time again.
The other reason is that this is just one of many Joomla sites I'm playing with. I plan to test-drive new capabilities here so in a sense, this site will always be Still In Development.
Why do this? Am I dreaming of millions of adoring fans? Swimming in big advertising revenues? Links from major publications?
No (that would be cool though, I think... maybe not). The truth is: bookmarks and sticky notes are no longer enough. I need a log.
But I'm also compelled to share it.
You see, back in the old times, last century, before Wikipedia, we bought technical reference manuals. I have whole bookshelves lined with them and they are, by and large, useless. They have names like "perl 5" and "Internetworking with TCP/IP". I only have a few little phrasebooks that I've actually bought in the last ten years. Almost all my research is on the Internet.
And in many cases, that means online references. But also, blogs and forums. Many times I have gotten past a difficult problem because someone else had the same problem, and they logged their solution. I'd like to somehow give back to that bizarre, abstract global community.
Of course, anybody's "technical log" means they are writing as they are learning. There could be mistakes. My worst fear is trying to be helpful, but posting poor information or code. So I will enable accounts (and provide a contact form) in hopes that anyone who is reading and knows a better way, and is actually kind enough to take the time to write, might do so. I confess in all my Internet technical research I have rarely (a few times) gone back and wrote to someone about their post.
Thanks for reading, and again, welcome!
- Paul