Milestones

My road in life has been direct.
Was sort of a trouble maker growing up, not interested in computers.
Went to college to escape my home town, with no idea what I wanted to do.
Wanted to try something difficult and wanted to make money doing it.
First time I felt academically challenged and interested in my life was in the comp sci program.
Graduated in 5 years, after one interview I insisted on being hired for a job in a small town in NH.
Within 2 years we were acquired by Microsoft, and I was living in Seattle.
After 7 years - had our first child and moved back home to be close to family.
One more child later and still solving difficult problems and enjoying remote work at Microsoft.
Keep following my journey

Career

Senior Software Engineer

I write, maintain, and diagnose, software.

Career Roadmap

Roadmap
My work combines:
My work combines:
Engineering
Numbers
Problem Solving

Day to Day

Checking various measurements and diagnostics, making sure what I own is running smoothly, finding problems, sending mails, meeting with other engineers to discuss designs, problems, etc. Making code changes and pushing the changes into our system.

Advice for Getting Started

Here's the first step for college students

Try some computer science classes to see if you like it.

Recommended Education

My career is related to what I studied. I'd recommend the path I took:

Hurdles

The Noise I Shed

From Teachers:

"'I really don't think you should try it, it is a very difficult class. Computer science is very hard.' - My college 'advisor'"