Who's David?

What I do

I'm a creative oddball. I like working on creative projects that take advantage of my ability to design and develop state of the art computer systems for the most demanding clients.

I generally appreciate business; unlike most technical people, I enjoy thinking about how things can be sold and marketed, not just produced. And whenever I build a project, I talk to the people using it, have empathy for their problems, and seek to solve them in as convenient a way as possible.

I think of myself as an advocate for the project itself, tireless in advocating not only the best possible software, but the easiest to use and deploy. I work with people in your organization, from the data entry people who use the system, to the highest executives.

Unfortunately, most of my work is internal to various companies, and as a result, invisible.

What I Know

I specialize in mySQL applications written in C, with various bits in Perl. I use this technology for both my personal web sites and my clients.

My programs can run on pretty much any platform around; however, I am a classic Unix guy who prefers to avoid Windows whenever possible. I will happily interoperate with Windows, designing web pages that look beautiful on all platforms, but I generally work with Unix/Linux/MacOS X servers only.

My best work is on business systems that use the web browser as a front end, and users can use whatever computing platform they wish, whether Windows, MacOS, Linux or even Palm or Danger.

I am a talented writer and write administrative and end-user documentation for my projects.

I can interoperate with pretty much everything. From XML to direct data transfer from mySQL to Microsoft SQL Server, I can connect, add and modify data to your legacy systems.

My software is not trendy. It's created on time-tested platforms with software that has stood the test of time. This means that in performance, interoperability and usability, there are no unpleasant surprises. My systems just work.

Specific Keywords:

Programming-Related mySQL C Perl CGI HTML JavaScript Linux MacOS X Unix/Linux to Windows database connectivity Internet Explorer (Windows + Macintosh) Safari (MacOS X) OmniWeb (MacOS X) Windows Microsoft SQL Server (primarily interoperability) Visual AccountMade (VAM) integration Importing data from Telemagic system

Software and Systems Apple Final Cut Pro Apple KeyNote emacs / xemacs Microsoft Word, Excel Interactive Intelligence Phone System (I3) administration Administrative Administrated a Windows network of approximately 75 workstations, with minimal outside help. Administrated major web server with thousands of daily hits. Administrate home network with mix of Apple Macintosh, Linux, SGI and Windows systems.

Employment History

2000-November 2004: Chief Technical Officer, International Laser Group

International Laser Group manufacturers and telemarkets laser toner cartridges. I worked directly under the CEO to single-handedly design an integrated Customer Relations Management (CRM) system, which:

• Allowed the company to continue its spectacular growth (sales more than tripled between 2000 and 2003) with minimal staff additions.

• Substantially increased sales productivity by giving salespeople instant access to all needed information, from sales to notes.

• Created integrated online ordering system for both salespeople and end customers; system enabled even inexperienced users to easily get up to speed and productive immediately. We went from a paper-based to fully automated electronic entry in four months from the start of the project to full activation. Fully integrated this with our back-end accounting system, eliminating the need for data entry into it; orders are automatically sent to the accounting system. They can then be shipped and processed into invoices.

• Created automated contact management system, integrating sales history, notes and contact information on a single page.

• Created an extensive set of reports, including salesperson efficiency analyses, under the close supervision of CEO.

It's important to note that this was done with no other programmers, no outside help, and no budget other than my salary and servers. Thanks in part to the system, ILG has higher sales productivity and retention than any comparable organization.

The system has been in continuous operation during the years that I have been in ILG, from when the first version was completed in August, 2000. By 2002, the company's needs were reduced, and as a result I took on desktop support and general IT. During that time, I also administrated the Windows desktops and supervised contractors working on the Exchange server and Interactive Intelligence (I3) phone system.

1987-2000 Freelance Consultant, RDI Consulting

Performed a wide variety of consulting services for widely respected software development consultancy. Work included the development of an automated publishing system for The Workbook, a quality analysis system for Sparkletts Drinking Water, and assisting with software development so Hughes Aircraft Corporation could pass a major audit.

Most of these jobs were done in FoxPro and Microsoft Visual FoxPro, which is now largely archaic technology.

Other Skills