Here is my contribution to Steve Bryant's How I Got Started In ColdFusion Day:
In the spirit of this whole 'Matrix' kick that I'm on right now, I thought I'd put together a timeline via a table format.
| Date | Description |
|---|---|
| 1976 | Got into programming in High School using a teletype machine |
| 1982 | Graduated from Ball State University with a double major (Computer Science and Journalism) We had a DEC-10 with 300 baud modems. |
| 1982- 2004 |
Programmed in all kinds of BASIC languages from AlphaBasic to GWBASIC & BASICA to BBX to Pick BASIC to VBA. Picked up HTML in the late 90s. |
| 2003 | Late one night, I decided to go back to school to earn a Master's degree and start a new career. The following morning, I was offered a job in the web group. |
| Even though I knew HTML and Microsoft Access, it was a hard slog to learn Dreamweaver, ColdFusion, SQL Server, Cascading Style Sheets, Delphi, Pocket PC, Fireworks and a few other technologies. I remember every day it was something completely new - like how Dreamweaver would simply close without warning, or the browser wouldn't reread a page because it was in cache. Thank goodness for Lynda.com back then! I would stay up late a night, doing calisthenics to keep from falling asleep, watching Lynda.com videos. | |
| My first exposure to ColdFusion was CF7. Sorry guys, for missing out on all the fun you had before then. I tried to apply some of my old school thinking, like "What do you guys call functions? CFFunction? OK". But Object Oriented has eluded me. I'm getting a better grasp of it while learning JavaScript, but the whole getters and setters thing never made sense to me in CF. | |
| 2006 | I completed a Master's in Library and Information Studies from the University of North Carolina. Probably a mistake to try to do that and learn everything else, but the jury's still out. |
| 2007 | Offered a part time teaching position at the local college. |
| 2011 | Am now working part time and teaching part time, and loving it. |
By the way, I'm doing a talk on the jQuery Matrix this Thursday in the ColdFusion meetup. Ya'll come now, ya hear?