I have an extensive skill set centered around computers and their application. As a child, I was curious about processes, and learned by modeling and experimentation of processes. As an adult, I've continued to develop my skills in process engineering.
The Foundations
My first conventional education in computer sciences began during the fall of 1972. During two semesters of study from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro, I learned the application of logic and process in finding resolution of problem sets. Using the PL/C extension of PL/1, I created programs to create models of the physical world -- in particular, one interactive game of billiards and a vehicular traffic simulation modeled from traffic control systems in place for Greensboro in 1972. These batch programs were on the order of 400 lines of code and were well received by the professor of the two-semester Calculus and Computing course -- Dr. Bill Love.
During my employment by Southern Bell, I demonstrated computer-related skills which many co-workers noticed. Bell System employees tried persuading me toward a career in application of computer science. In November of 1979, I was loaned to a special project of Bell Labs -- investigating the feasibility of Remote Energy Management; on several occasions, based on observations of my performance during client installations, the lead researcher -- Dr. Greenman -- encouraged continuation of my computer science studies. In July of 1983, while involved in the extensive facility re-engineering of special circuits at the Greensboro-Eugene Street central office, I was asked to help initiate the digital switch installation team by participating in Northern Telecom DMS-100 installations. By March of 1986, I was given the responsibility of assessing installation quality for DMS-100, DMS-200, and digital facility systems and recommending in-service conversion to the new systems when appropriate. By the end of 1986, I was performing in-service upgrades to critical switching centers like Greensboro-Ashland and Raleigh-Morgan.
In July of 1988, I decided to venture into the computer industry. I left Southern Bell and started an S-corporation with R. D. Shumate and Keith Barringer of Boone, North Carolina -- RKR Visions, Inc. -- and acted as the chief software engineer for this new enterprise. In 1989, R. D. Shumate and Keith Barringer declared bankruptcy but I continued to develop software through my own home-based company -- Bytes & Pieces. Finances were quite poor at that time, and I worked at the same time for Steve Reid at Reid Computer Systems, Ltd. Of Wilkesboro, North Carolina. During my short employ by Mr. Reid, I was called upon to develop database front-ends for several vertical markets including, most notably, a criminal incidence based research tool.
Reinforcement
By the winter of 1991, Bytes & Pieces became self-sustaining, and I decided to pursue the development of that enterprise on a full-time basis in June of that year. Bytes & Pieces was my sole source of income until November of 1992 while I was earning my Associate of Science degree at Wilkes Community College in Wilkesboro, North Carolina.
I took several odd jobs to ease finances from November of 1992 until finally earning a Bachelor of Science in Computer Science at the North Carolina State University in Raleigh. Among the jobs I held, were tutor, instructor, research assistant, lab assistant, lab supervisor, teaching assistant, and software developer.
As a research assistant, I learned a most valuable skill -- I learned to find sources of information. I learned to mine information from the Internet. I learned to search in organizational archives. I learned to ask questions that provoked meaningful answers. I learned also to collect data and read trends from those pieces of information. This skill had immediate benefit in my scholastic efforts as well as later when I entered the professional world.
As a lab supervisor and instructor, I was responsible for developing thought provoking experiences for students of computer science. I developed a curiosity in many of the students and they were willing to dig deeply into the register-level design of a computer; as a result of this experience, several students gained a strong understanding of Transistor to Transistor Logic and Register Transfer Logic.
I managed to maintain a respectable overall GPA of 3.55; I graduated with honors and Magna Cum Laude recognition.
Present Endeavors
Since graduation, I have worked for two of the Virginia divisions of Allen Telecom, Inc. as a software engineer. While my primary duties have been the evolution of an extant analog cellular phone base station into a Dual-Mode station, I have filled many other roles. I have repeatedly assisted the IS department in the deployment of TCP/IP facilities. I served as researcher and trainer for the engineering staff on several projects. I was also instrumental in analyzing product requirements and in designing creative solutions for problems encountered on many projects.
In March of 1997, the IS department requested I administrate a new email domain -- ats-forest.com -- to serve in the stead of an internal mail system and incorporate it in an existing domain -- grayson.com; this task was implemented with no interruption of email service to any email clients in either domain. When the mail server became overloaded with other responsibilities, I outlined a procedure to move the FTP and HTTP services to another computer; in addition to this plan I took responsibility of postmaster for the two domains and continue monitoring mail server effectiveness even now. When prototype devices used IP addressing for rapid communication across our ethernet, our assigned class C Internet host addresses were depleted. I designed a solution implementing the ambiguous network addressing plan of RFC-1597. By collaboration with the IS department, an additional network -- 192.168.2.0 -- was implemented without requiring InterNIC registration and the IP address crisis was averted.
The 192.168.2.0 network solution intrigued many of the engineers and architects at Allen Telecom when I argued to implement it as a communication solution. As a result, several training sessions were scheduled to train our engineers in the details of implementing a TCP/IP based network. This responsibility continues beyond the scope of the original task; at this time I am preparing another training session to help our engineers perform better research by using resources on the Internet.
In preparing these training sessions I found much more information to assist in the development of several projects and have been in high demand as a researcher for many Allen Telecom projects. I assist in the deployment of the Simple Network Management Protocol (using a stable Linux 2.0.34 kernel) on one project in collaboration with Lucent Technologies -- the BriteCell project from Tekmar Sistemi of Italy. Repeatedly, managers of networked products call on me to resolve issues of Domain Name Service, routing, IP aliasing, as well as asking for advice in many other problem areas. I help our engineers in making transition from MS-DOS and Windows environments into Unix, Solaris, and QNX environments.
When the IS-136 base station project neared the first milestone, I volunteered to construct a test facility for the evolving product. The facility grew from a single testbed to a system of five testbeds throughout the Forest campus. Currently the IS-136 project is discontinued, but the testbed network has remained and is being used to implement a networked version of Grayson Wireless' Measurement (CellScope) product.
While working on the IS-136 base station project, I became quite familiar with several specifications of cellular telephony. My project responsibilities included becoming the resident expert on air interface as defined in the EIA/TIA 553 as well as knowing how those interfaces were enhanced in the Interim Specification 136.2.