Let’s set the wayback machine to the 90’s. Ahh, the 90’s. The era of the interactive CD-ROM craze. Multimedia was a buzzword that software companies were just beginning to explore / exploit and Myspace was all the rage. 

During this time I worked for a number of indie software companies that were developing interactive CD-ROM’s, and for a decade, I authored over 15 interactive CD-ROM’s for such companies as Kodak, Saban, Rockwell, NASA, DMI and more, using Macromedia’s flagship product, Director. The scripting language powering Director was a combination of C++ and Hypercard. 

Through the connections I made working for indie developers, this carved a path putting me in front of the big guns in interactive CD-ROM software itself, extended an invitation to me to work for them, Macromedia.

During my time with Macromedia, I served as an evangelist for their products and gave speeches and lectures across the US and Canada.

As the 90’s drew to a close, so did the interactive CD-ROM craze, when an opportunity presented itself to join Disney, as a Software engineer, or Imagineer as they are officially called, I jumped at the chance. 

At Disney, over the course of 9 years, I authored software kiosk-based attractions, using Macromedia Director, 8 in total, on 2 different continents. 

Those attractions include:

• Animal Cam and Eco Heroes for Disney Animal Kingdom
• Ursula’s Grotto and Beast’s Library for Disney California Adventure
• The Great American Pizza Game for Epcot Center
• Drawn to Animation for MGM Studios
• Animagique for Disney Studio Paris
• The Hunchback of Notre Dame mall tour – global, 100 countries over 6 months

Most of these attractions were live in the theme parks from about 1998 through 2015.

Also in the early 00’s, spent some time as a CSR at Blizzard, during the Warcraft 3 Frozen Throne / WOW Alpha era. 

While there only a short time, I enjoyed working with the creative minds that power arguably some of the most memorable MMORG experiences ever created.

During the 2010’s the need for interactive kiosk based software design diminished, so I shifted to more web based work and began skill building in web standards (HTML/HTML5, CSS2/3, javascript, ASP .net, PHP).

In 2009, I began working for VPI, which would later become a division of Nationwide as a Sr. Web Developer. 

Over 9 years at Nationwide, myself and a team of four others were responsible for managing our 5000+ page website, hosted on the Sitecore platform.  

Notable accomplishments during this time include developing a prototype claims processing system that had a projected YOY net savings of $150k annually.

Also late in the 2010’s after departing Nationwide, I switched to more contract type positions for the next few years, with the first being a fixed length contract with IEHP. 

At IEHP, I was tossed into the deep end of the pool, as the position I was hired for was NOT what they actually needed. 

So every day became a learn-on-the-fly marathon, which included the following technologies:

• Sitecore 8 in-depth
• MVC
• Razor
• SQL
• Lucerne
• SOLR

Needless to say it was a very challenging time.

The roaring 20’s. Perhaps the robotic 20’s would be a more appropriate term with the advent of AI. 

In the late 10’s through early 20’s, most of my opportunities focused on more “modern” CMS systems (WordPress, Umbraco) which allowed me to further my knowledge of HTML5, CSS3, jQuery and PHP.

Spent 3 years contracted to the County of San Bernardino’s Information Services Department (ISD), where I was part of a team that managed the county’s 40+ websites hosted in WordPress. Was responsible for the creation of new Gutenberg blocks, development of custom fields and forms using ACF, deploying builds with TFS and training team members.

Currently, I continue to build on my WordPress based skill set, and have recently branched out into Game development using Unreal Engine 5, you know, for kicks.