Hello, my name is Ed Brown and I've been developing software for more than 12 years commercially and for more than 25 years as a hobby. (don't let the photo fool you :)
I think the hardest thing that can be asked of anyone is to talk about themselves. I mean how do you start off? When do you end and what with? More importantly, what do you put in between? The following rant is really a mixture of everything of who I am and what I do. There's no beginning, middle or end really. It's more like a bunch of randomly placed thoughts thrown together to satisfy the curiousity for those that are interested. One day I'll have more of an idea about what it is I want to say here and update this page.
I'm currently a senior software architect for SSW located in Sydney, Australia. I primarily do all of my development using VB.Net 2005 but that's changing quite rapidly with the introduction of Visual Studio 2008, MS SQL Server 2008, etc. etc. My exposure to web development (to date) has also been through VB.Net 2005. Prior to this I did some development in VS 2003 (again VB) and prior to that again I was developing in VB 6 (most of which was done while employed at other companies and/or as a hobby for my own projects).
My commercial software development experience all started back in 1996 when I was successful in applying for a junior programmer role for my then employer Adelaide Office Products Distributors. I had to move to Sydney for the job and I have to say that I've never looked back.
So here goes nothing, if you've had enough up until now then I urge you to skip to the end....or something. Since 1996 I have been developing commercial software solutions for various businesses and industries. Prior to this I free-lanced my services and time to anyone that had a need for a program but mostly just did it because I really enjoy programming.
I have a few hobbies that I tend to dabble in from time to time but nothing really serious except for programming. A couple of the hobbies that I like are astronomy and electronics (building circuits and stuff). Astronomy is 2nd on my list and I guess that I like it because there are just so many things out there to look at in the night sky. I've always been interested in astronomy and I don't spend anywhere near as much time and effort into it as would like.
Growing up in the 80's, with an Atari 400 and 800XL, I was looked at by my friends and family as a nerd. Back then the concept of programming computers for a living was just too 'far out' to be taken seriously and was still just science fiction found in movies like TRON, War Games and Superman III - hmmm, now those were the days!! :) I still have my Atari 800XL packed away in a box. One day I'll drag it out again and see if it still works....one day. There was something truly magic about the 80's, I can't put my finger on it or even describe why...it just was. After leaving high school I went to college where I studied Advanced Electronics and Servicing....I quickly learned that although I had a big interest in digital electronics it just wasn't for me. I dropped out of that course and started again but this time studying the Associate Diploma of Computer Applications. This course was awesome! It had everything from Cobal 85, Pascal and ANSI C to MS-DOS 6.0 batch programming and DBase III macros. You're forgiven if you have absolutely no idea what it is that I just blirted out ;) Anway, to cut a long story short, I eventually found my way to Sydney as a Junior Programmer working for MacQuarie Office Products.
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Atari 400
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Atari 800XL
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Coming to Sydney was in itself an amazing experience as I had never left the comfortable confines of Adelaide. It was truly breath taking when arrived in Sydney (mostly because of the Random Breath Testing unit that greeted me on my arrival) but, seeing the Center Point Tower (as it was known back then) and the Sydney Harbour Bridge for the first time just can't be described...it was more a sense of being awestruck. I just couldn't believe that I was in one of Australia's most beautiful cities.
My days at Macquarie Office Products were very eye opening. I was exposed to a lot of tricks'n'tips in programming and from people that really knew what they were doing and I was fortunate enough to have been able to learn from them. Thanks Jeff and Phil!! (you guys were inspirational to me, though I didn't say so then, I'm saying it now). It was the beginning of a new way of life for me and a life that I have not regretted.
Well, I know that this is not complete and it'll never be finished either. There's so much more to add from my past and future but for now, this will have to do.