I am a Software Development Engineer, specializing in the Microsoft .NET stack. My profession for the last 12 years has been in computer science in one way or another, self-taught since hacking the grades using BASIC on my 4th grade's school computer.

I was born and raised in Chattanooga, TN with a population at the time of 250,000, and a proud Tennessean with a bit of the southern twang. During high school, I received a scholarship for college in Automotive Technologies where I graduated top of class. But my love for automotive expertise and the adrenaline rush of my supercharged and/or nitrous-fed cars did not fuel my creative lust enough. I wanted more control over my car’s performance. I wanted more control in saying what it does, how it does it, and what to do when this or that happens. So, I changed my career to computer sciences and decided to make things happen, for me, in code. This is because I could not afford the hundreds of thousands of dollars for the specialty machines to create the physical automotive parts – that anyone else could make. You can read: there's always someone with a bigger wallet. So I decided to use the creativity of my mind to set me apart.

I am not someone who does things like everyone else. When the crowd of thousands of people marches forward in unison, you can catch me walking sideways – to see what’s around the corner or what else is going on to make it work. I stride to be unique, not to stand out in the crowd but to think outside of the box. I love exploring the inner workings of everything in existence, from aeronautics to electrons. I do not believe in magic and will study the phenomenon until I understand and grasp the concept, sometimes with an unhealthy dedication. Maybe I should look into quantum mechanics next...

To paraphrase a good friend of mine; I love programming. It makes you feel a little like a god because you are creating a world and giving instructions on what the world does. I really enjoy creating little groups of entities that go running around doing work for me. If you would ever like to try out this sensation, I highly recommend logging onto http://www.alice.org and trying out the software. It’s fun, it’s free, and is designed for everyone from artists to musicians that can get involved in creating worlds.

-E