Just a little about me
Hello World! This phrase makes me chuckle as it always reminds me of the first scripts I wrote long ago, about 16ish years ago in qbasic. I was never really hardcore into programming but I dabbled a bit in it and really liked it. My best friend at the time Mark was into it and so of course I wanted to see if I could do what he could do because it was so cool! Windows 3.1/Dos stuff was really cool then.
Mark got a job at AOL when it was AOL 1.0 going on 2.0 and of course, I followed again because it was really cool and the pay wasn’t that bad. Just out of high school, majoring in Computer Science figuring out what I want to do for the rest of my life as a career. I didn’t really have any push from any of my parents so I was just meandering throughout the teky world figuring things out and just being a late teenage, somewhat naive but hopeful kid. Mark and I went through the ranks of AOL pretty quickly, became trainers and were making a few more bucks. I should have kept that stock!! AOL came out with some software you could use to create your own website on AOL called AOL Press. This is where I really grew to love creating basic HTML websites. It started out more of a hobby but soon became more than that. Websites were not needed or wanted or even known about at the time. Everything was found on AOL, Compuserve or Prodigy at a hyperspeedy 28.8 BAUD Dial-Up connection that you were lucky to get on and hopefully didn’t get kicked off by someone calling you on your other line because you forgot to turn off call waiting before you dialed in. Oh those were the days!
Now that we have gone down my ancient sprouts of tekyness and most likely bored you to death we’ll jet through the next 8 years quickly by saying they were my “Experimental” days. Meaning, Learning how to build websites using the latest technologies to create cool websites. Mark and I started a business in 1997 (I believe) called Dot Teks, the beginning of my favorite way to spell tech. So our domain was www.dotteks.com. We were brilliant! We only had to explain how to type it in the URL about a million times. Our first client was Envirocare of Utah, now called Energy Solutions. We had them as clients for some time. It was built with an Access Database using ASP. Ahh those were the days. After many clients and technology changes, moving through JSP, JAVA, .NET, C#, Weblogic, SQL, Oracle, Access, yada yada… I landed in a wonderful world of LAMP (Linux Apache MySQL PHP) where the sky is blue and clear and all is well. I loved PHP the first time I used it, fast, friendly and so many free scripts to use and explore. This is where I specialize in and recommend to anyone and everyone!
I ran a programming company called TeksFX (the teks for the obvious and the FX for the graphical side of the web). I ran it solo and on the side while working at other companies such as O’Currance Teleservices where I wrote most of their web-based technical wonderland that is still in use today. In 2005 I told OC where to go because of the way they treat their employees and incorporated TeksFX. I decided to go big and I did just that. In 05 we had a great year! I won’t go into the details but we were growing at an average monthly rate of 22% and was going through Tekys like crazy! It seemed that 1 out of 3 programmers I would hire were what they claimed. Here is a good piece of advice for fellow Tekys, DON’T LIE ABOUT YOUR ABILITIES! It’s not that hard to figure out that you have just wasted time and money. In my opinion a good knowledgeable loyal and honest programmer is worth his/her weight in GOLD. Any employers out there who have someone like that, keep them, bend over backwards to keep them because you’ll hate it when they are gone and it’s almost impossible to find a suitable replacement. Eat crow if you have to but reward and make them feel wanted at almost any cost. Programmers be grateful for your employers if they treat you like GOLD and don’t take less than your worth but be realistic and aware of the market you are in. If you undercut other programmers you’re only cutting your own throat and the throats of other hard working programmers. Ok I am off my soap box now.
The last year TeksFX was in business I was contracted as the CTO for a company based in Beijing, China. For the first 6 months I just did work remotely and directed the hiring and build of their network and web-based systems. In July of 06 they flew me out there for a few months to oversee things and hire a few programmers. Invaluable is the phrase I would use for the value of the experience I had. There are not many things that can compare to trying to manage a group of programmers and 3rd party application designers in another language and country. As frustrating as the barriers were we accomplished all of what we set out to do. I was offered a permanent position as CTO for LanguageCalls LTD, huge salary with ownership and a very high class place in downtown Beijing if I were to relocate for the next few years. After I came back from my two month stint in the orient, knowing I had tentatively accepted their offer I planned on moving. The first time I saw my daughter after I got back changed my mind. I picked her up and took her up to where I was staying at the time, in Park City, UT. I was so foreign to her, she didn’t want to stay with me, she cried and called for her mom.. I was heartbroken. She was 3 at the time and even though I was gone for just a short time her comfort with me was gone. How could I leave her for 2 years only seeing her every 3 months when I would come back to visit? There was no way I could make her feel like I had abandoned her. I went back to China for my next trip where I was to complete the rest of the things I needed to do to move there but instead broke the news that I would not be moving to China. Financially it was a ridiculously idiotic decision but who can put a price on the relationship between a father and daughter.
The person I put in charge of my company didn’t have the best interest at heart and let my company dwindle and collapse. The clients I had left stayed with me for a while but in the end I had a few clients left and not much more. TeksFX had died but I had gained an exceptional amount of experience in life and business that will assist me throughout my life I am sure.
In March of 2008 I met the love of my life, we ran to Vegas and were married and have lived happily ever after ever since. In August of 08 we (as in my wife and I) opened Tekys LLC in American Fork, Utah. A similitude of TeksFX but with an added emphasis of Computer Repair and Upgrades. Of course I still program for anyone who wants just a basic website or a full blown sweet web-based application, “yeah I can fly” is the thought that comes to mind. It is amazing what you can do when someone believes in you and supports you in every way. 2009 has been a great year to see where things can go in 2010! Our website is at www.tekys.com you can also find us on facebook!
I’ll be posting interesting stories, fixed issues, hints and tricks and whatever drivel I can think of to help you in your search for online greatness and visibility or just trying to keep your computer running so you don’t have to pay someone like me to fix it.
Until the next time..
JM
