Bio

Where It All Began

Cedar Ridge Middle School had just purchased two Commodore PET 16 computers and Matt and I would sneak out of wood shop and duck into the back room behind the librarian’s desk where they had them set up. We’d rather write code in BASIC than cut off our fingers on a table saw. We got caught and Mr. Sullivan, the librarian, said we could continue as long as we maintained a decent grade in wood shop. Matt and I pulled double duty, alternating between building birdhouses and writing programs during the same hour.

I begged and pleaded with my parents and thankfully they succumbed to my relentless onslaught of appeals and gave me a Commodore Vic-20 for Christmas. I had no form of external storage so every time I wrote a BASIC program I had to re-write it from scratch the next time I used the computer.

A year later they gave me a Commodore 64 and a 1541 floppy disk drive six months after that. I got a lot of mileage out of that computer and I used it for everything imaginable during high school. I landed my first client when I was 16, helping a local video store chain inventory their movies and sync daily sales and availability between their three stores. I charged $7 per hour.

By the time I entered college it was time to get a real computer and my parents bought me an IBM PC XT clone. Ah, the 80′s.

College coursework included FORTRAN, Pascal and Assembly while I learned Paradox, C, and C++ on the side. While taking the second term of Pascal I actually dreamed in the language. Telling my professor about it, he asked if I could replicate the program. I did and turned it in for extra credit (I’ve never earned less than a 100% grade in a programming class). The program ran without bugs and the instructor was impressed enough to refer me to a paper company in Portland that was looking for a junior programmer. It was my first ‘real’ programming job and I was only 19 years old.

My boss, Doug Rice, used to work for banks where software absolutely positively had to be 100% right or it was 100% wrong. He taught me that mentality by asking me, “Would you bet a week’s pay this is bug free?” when I’d turn in my work. He didn’t mean it literally, my meager paycheck wasn’t in jeopardy. But it taught me to think twice about my code rather than just bang it out and call it ‘good enough.’

Since then I have learned close to 30 programming languages and have been paid to code in 25 of them on 7 different operating system platforms. The two most recent have been ColdFusion and PHP. I earned Advanced certification in ColdFusion and my current goal is to earn Zend Certified Engineer certification in PHP.

I’ve enjoyed ColdFusion and PHP the most and found JavaScript to be the most frustrating. Yes, even more than Perl.

Variety

My programming career has been evenly split between working for various employers in a W2 capacity and as an independent contractor. During this time I have also done time in technical support, training, and systems management. Clients have included real estate agencies, city governments, paper manufacturers, insurance and annuity companies, a dot-com in the long-term health care industry, a Fortune 500 heavy truck manufacturer, tree nurseries, a tattoo/piercing shop, and even a federal credit union. My current employer is a fisheries consulting firm.

I have worked by myself on small and large projects and have lead teams of up to 10 developers, designers, and database administrators. I have taught classes on a wide range of subjects and have provided support for computers ranging from DOS 3.x up to current operating systems.

Tidbits

For the record, I’ve had dreams in ColdFusion and PHP as well as Pascal. If you write enough code it can happen. It’s an unusual experience. I’ve also learned two different languages in a week or less. It’s not easy. Mastery was not obtained in that short time span but I did learn enough to get the job done, and in one case actually land a job.

In my spare time I enjoy motorcycle touring (I currently ride a 2007 Suzuki V-Strom 650), fishing, photography, and cooking.

Contact Information

I am employed full time and unavailable for contract work, although I do respond to questions and still provide assistance to previous clients. The best way to contact me is electronically:

Skype: ruckersteve
E-mail: ruckerworks@gmail.com
Yahoo ID: stevewz