Early Development
If you are old enough to remember the old Tandy computer and Apple IIe, then you know the computers that I used to learn BASIC during a summer program in my youth. This set off a great curiosity for programming which I eventually used to modify the Money application that came with DOS 6 for my dad to maintain 99 accounts instead of the handful that was allowed out of the box. We could laugh at how basic that is (pardon the pun) but keep in mind that I was still just a child playing around with BASIC.
College Influence
Unfortunately, someone had told this impressionable youth that work is called work for a reason, and you should never do what you truly love as your job, or you will learn to hate it. While an uncle of mine helped me find an alternative that I would enjoy, this one piece of bad advice helped push me away from programming and into Engineering Technology for my college degree with a major in Electronics. In the course of those studies, we had 2 semesters learning about microprocessors, and I learned to program with Macro Assembler (MASM). This was an eye-opening experience writing such low-level code, but I learned how to write key loggers and hook into the old built-in speaker to play Mary Had a Little Lamb controlled by the real time clock. I also learned about TTL logic where we used TTL chips to hard-code logic and made a circuit board and power supply using supplies from Radio Shack.
Early Career
Having spent a number of years on the PC and Unix support side for my career, a company nearby needed a programmer and was willing to train. I was fortunate to land that job where I learned to customize Symix written in PROGRESS. That job allowed me to explore my long-suppressed developer side and started a long journey into career development writing PROGRESS code. My first month was spent reading the programming guides and studying code before I was allowed to touch any code, but soon I was fixing transaction scope problems in our code and exchanging help on the Progress Email Group (PEG). That constant problem-solving forum enabled me to grow as a programmer, both in PROGRESS skills and general logic mentality.
After about a year and a half, I was presented with the opportunity to help start a user group for PROGRESS in somewhat nearby major city. When my boss found out, he told me that he could not support that, even on my own time. Needless to say, I was crushed and shocked. He reasoned that it would only help me to make other contacts that would lure me away. Ironically, given what he had just told me and after some discussion, he gave me the push I needed to start my next great adventure. With that, a month later I moved to a new city, a new home, and to a company that used almost the exact version of our same software. With their support and investment in me, I stayed for many years garnering a wealth of other experience including programming, Unix administration, training, quality, implementation, operations, and project management… and starting in 2018, Acumatica.
The Move to Acumatica and C#
Our legacy system was solid and supported our business, but the technology behind it was aging. The effect was that it would be harder to integrate with future customers if we didn’t make a change. We struggled and failed to implement Oracle and SAP effectively. Our legacy systems had been enhanced with the changing demands of the business to the point that developers on the other software platforms simply could not match our pace. I was actually told by the CIO that we needed to stop enhancing the system (even though it was to support the needs of operations) because we kept raising the bar on the new project. That was a good signal that we had the wrong product in development. It was also a sign that we had the wrong CIO, which was corrected in time.
My employer made the decision to move to Acumatica in 2018. Having sent me through various roles in just about every area except accounting, I was asked to return to my IT roots as the main developer for Acumatica. My counterpart handling the application and administration side was once the other half of the development team that kept our legacy system evolving, and eventually he had become my boss. When I had been presented with the opportunity to move into the operations side of the business, it was a dream come true and also a rather terrifying endeavor to embark upon. However, it ultimately would prepare me to look at the software not as a programmer, but as an operations manager and end user. While I never completely left my IT roots, I did get a new boss and different responsibilities. However, our friendship and mutual respect and support over the years would make us the ideal team to pair up again for Acumatica.
Time for a Change
A few months after Acumatica Summit 2024, I opened myself up to other opportunities. Talking with my friends at Summit helped me to see that I was burned out, worn out, and frustrated about things beyond my control in my current job. Once I decided to be open to change, I was presented with a few opportunities to be “just” a developer. To be honest, that was a hard pill to swallow. I had built an identity around a variety of roles beyond “just” development as an Acumatica customer. It took some time for me to process the thought of letting all that go to focus on “just” development. I had to reconcile that all my past experience is still part of who I am, but it was time to let all that “extra” go.
In the end, I accepted an opportunity that would allow me to work with a very talented and innovative developer for a large and thriving company with a lot of personal and professional growth within reach. In my career, I had flown more than 500 flight segments and spent years of nights in hotels, but this opportunity would allow me to spend more time at home while providing a refreshing challenge and plenty of room to grow again. While my life is quite different than it was a year ago, most importantly, I am much happier and relaxed now.