New Contributor

MessageBox.Show("Hello World!");

There really is no better way to introduce yourself as a fellow nerd than with a little bit of code. When Chris mentioned that he was looking for contributors, I jumped at the chance. I have been reading his and many other associated blogs for many years now and thought this would be a good opportunity to share what I have learned and am continuing to learn about the black cloud that is Windows Installer.

I got my start in the tech industry in 1995 on a contract at Ford Motor Company. Since then I have tried to make the most of my experience by inserting myself in to as many roles as possible. I started in the tech industry doing cable pulling, and system installs and repairs. I moved over to the help desk shortly after and did my "time". ;-)

I then jumped over to the administration side of things, first in client administration (this is where I was introduced to application repackaging), then network administration. I spent a few years doing administration and then moved into development. My exposure was light at first, mainly cgi-based web applications written in Perl. I then started to dabble more and more with Win32 middleware and UI development, and quickly engulfed myself in .NET development with the release of Visual Studio .NET.

I was hooked and took full advantage in my role as a consultant to utilize nearly all of my skills and experience while constantly learning new ones. I started with Wise Solutions, Inc., developers of Wise for Windows Installer and Wise Package Studio. Wise was shortly after purchased by Altiris where I spent an additional 3 and half years traveling the globe performing training, and consulting engagements. I loved it, but the need to be near my family outweighed my love for traveling the globe.

I am currently employed by a software company in the Phoenix area as a Development Support Architect. I specialize in things such as internal tools development and installation architecture. I also provide mentoring for the various development teams in existing and new technologies such as Windows Vista. My unique background and experience allows me to assist them in taking full advantage of the operating system in their development and ensuring that our entire suite of products can co-exist peacefully.

I look forward to contributing!