Even if I list all things I’ve done in programming over the years, I’m still going to miss things since the full list is so extensive.  Not to mention every place wants to know something different or they have a different focus. But just for an example, here’s something that just highlights things I’ve done

Highlighted Work / Projects

1980s

• Device driver for printer (Tandy Printer) so company could print letterheads or envelopes
  
• Generalized concept-based toys (example: remote controlled ball design)
  
• Computer specification comparison for potential purchases (family / business)
  
• Created text-based mystery games, with experimenting with limited graphics for titles
  
• Simple computer-based repair and software troubleshooting
  
• General office application based use
  

1990s

• Learning and experiment with multiline phone systems, rewiring homes for phone and networking
  
• Setup and testing of small networks
  
• Website design and maintenance
  
• Computer system repair, maintenance, install, and system building
  
• General database skills of multiple database formats
  

2000s

• Website design, and start of website/web-based programs (i.e. web UI for otherwise traditional program)
  
• Graphics design, mainly textures and simple other graphics
  
• ASP/PHP functioning websites, that performed tasks such as grading essays, performing training
  
• Advanced database tasks, transferring data from one database to another (DB2->MSSQL)
  
• Creating databases from scratch, with accompanying program to access data
  
• Creating medical records program
  
• Creating early forms of VIMS (Visual Inventory Management System)
  
• Obtained Associates in computer science, as companies required degree to hire (I tutored my classmates while in the classes)
  

2010s

• Improving, and “halting” VIMS development as requires customization for specific workplace (VIMS original conception required specific workplace for design due to costs/development)
  
• Website design and automation including designing self-healing websites (websites did a “refresh” if data was hacked due to server hack for shared websites)
  
• Hired to teach classes for MSOffice (classes cancelled due to college’s min student registration)
  

Divided by year, not by company. In fact, I won’t even put what companies I’ve done things with online. The whole safety issue. And here’s the best part, see the years? They’re right, but they don’t quite represent my age that well. I started programming when I was 8 years old—and I was paid then too. That was unusual at the time, not as much these days. I just always took to programming and computers, they’re just so simple in a way to me.

Programming languages, the main ones

• QBasic, Basic, Visual Basic 3.0-6.0, VB.NET, VBA, VBScript
• C, C++, C#
• Fortran, COBOL
• XML/XLS, HTML/DHTML/HTML5, CSS, JavaScript
• PHP, ASP
• MySQL, SQL Server, Oracle, DB2
• Joomla, WordPress (obvious since this is in WordPress)
• SSH, cron, and bash scripting
• SQL, T-SQL
  
• AJAX

Databases

• SQL Server, DB2, MS Access, MySQL, SQLite, Oracle,
  
• Stored Procedure, Views, Database design and maintenance, Crystal Reports
  

General IT things

• Different version control software
• Windows (since Windows 3.1), MS DOS, Linux (various distributions)
• AS/400
  
• Windows & Linux Servers, Network setup & maintenance
• Building PCs (this document created on a system I built myself)
• Designing, planning and programming projects from scratch, as in, blank file to completed program
• Looking stuff up online when don’t know, need refresher, or just looking for a finished example so don’t recreate wheel when not needed
• Troubleshooting existing code
• Just doing IT based things with any electronic device, including cell phones that I’ve never been on

General Office things

• Adobe Flash, Adobe Photoshop, Adobe Illustrator, Adobe Premiere
  
• Phones, multifunction machines, printers, scanners
  

Let’s just simplify it, if it’s a programming language, I’ve probably done it seen it, or heard of it, and if not I can probably learn it quickly. If it’s a device, I’ve probably used it. If it’s an operating system, I’ve probably been exposed to it. I’m still picking up things. The best/worst part of this entire list? I’m “missing something a company wants” for experienced people, and not considered for most entry level jobs. Me? I’m just wanting a job in an office doing things I enjoy. Might be odd, but I prefer to be happy at a job, than be miserable at one.

Note:  Wondering about code examples?

Simple Reason

I don’t link to websites to show what I can do, as everything I did for the clients was created so they could make changes to everything.  That is, I created CMS based websites, where I designed the CMS backend!  If you really want a simple website example

Longer Reasons

Really the simple reason covers it, I was never in control of the user’s website content, formatting, color choices, design, menus, none of it.  I could make suggestions, but in the end, they got what they wanted, and they were even able to make changes with little effort.  Some of the people could change items in a way similar to how you can with wordpress.  Less complicated, and custom-built for their website, but still, it’s just how it was.  Last time I viewed a few of the websites, they looked nothing like they did when I first made it content wise, and even color and font-size wise, but me knowing how it was built, I could tell from the source code they were still using my custom built CMS.

That’s the issue though, I could tell because I made it.  No one else would have a clue.  It just didn’t appear anywhere on the page, in the source, or anything.  Everything was for that company, so search terms would only return them, and not me.  This also lead to when I did work for companies, I did it with the agreement that I would not claim I did it, and they could pass the work as their own.

For the most part, everything you see on their websites is their own too! I just provided the backend format, their admin pages to upload content, and the CSS based information to display their page as they wanted. All of these files are editable by them, other than the admin pages, at least through the admin page. It’s like with this website. I created the content, but the display format was just my preference from the existing formats. I could easily modify all the content, and change it completely.  Granted with my users, I didn’t give them direct admin user interface-based modifying of the admin pages, but that was just to prevent them from messing things up—however, the pages were dynamic, as they loaded things based on what they had installed.  So if they created a new photo album, they had a new admin page to edit the images in that photo album.

Those reasons are why I don’t link to their websites, or even give them out.  It helps when you also do contact work for other web development companies—they pay you, they maintain all rights, but I just can’t claim any of their clients.  Still, when the website work I do isn’t directly visible, other than the first draft that only the client sees, it’s not a good idea to link to them.  For obvious reasons, providing even the source code for their sites can be an issue–as their site could easily be found because of my samples.  If I strip out all photos, all main words, and just provide a generic website…. well, it’s the reason I send a simple zip file of a website to people of a demo site I once did.  It’s simple, but really, I’m not going to create a complex website for no purpose other than someone might see it for how I do web design.

When you consider most of the work I did was backend, done with a custom CMS that I designed (hopefully on an external hard drive somewhere—otherwise it was lost in a hard drive crash), it makes sense too!  The things I did aren’t visible—only the things the customer wanted up, and told to be up. The only things that are “mine” from their websites is the php code on the pages that pull information from the database, and their admin pages (that actually do the same).

Think of it like this… the only thing my code did (not this, but just an overly simple version), is this:

<?php

// Code to load the template file, and then

$tpl->content = $db_retrieved_html_based_code_on_page_link;

$tpl->Show();

?>

Obviously the $tpl was the template content file, that also linked the css, headers, footers, etc… but still, the code on the specific page was just a query to a database, grabbing the content, and displaying it… or just loading a file… all it did was get the content that the website owner said to display. I have no control over what they did after. I could’ve created a css-based menu system with blue and white website, with dividers for the footer—and they could’ve edited the site to be a punk rock radio station with red and black, they just had to upload a few files, and change some css—and made so many errors it wouldn’t even render in a browser.

Curious to what I mean? This sample website (Template Web Demo) uses a version of the CMS I created (it’s a developer variant of it). It’s a simple clean version, designed more as a business-like format. Yet just by changing a few lines, every page would look completely different, or I could even break the navigation. Please note that the demo used to be on another domain, and had a database, so some links might not work (it also used to have a custom .htaccess file designed for that domain).