A Bit of History

My interest in computers and technology developed at a very young age. I got my first computer as a Christmas gift at the age of 10. Although it was technically a "the family computer" for a number of years, that didn't prevent me from tinkering. Inspired by popular and cult media like Hackers (the movie) and Jonathan Littman's The Fugitive Game, my early curiosity led to a rapid exploration of digital systems. By age 12, I was consistently dual booting a clandestine install of Slackware Linux and a few years later, when my brother got his own separate laptop, I became a dedicated CLI user. The aging 486 DX2 would serve as a faithful router, web server, and primary development machine until I graduated from high school in 2002.

By the time I started attending New England Institute of Technology, I was already self-taught on a host of different technologies and programming languages. Although my roots were in C Programming, I'd dabbled in x86 Assembly, and more importantly, had been developing personal websites for nearly the entirety of my computing history. The limitations of my earliest experiments with AOL Press quickly led to developing more robust HTML and DHTML (VBScript at the time) solutions. Around the age of 16, while engaged in the less legitimate side of my digital exploration, I came across PHP and MySQL. This discovery marked a turning point for me.

While I wouldn't fully abandon my hacker roots, much of my energy shifted from legally questionable activities to developing online communities for close circles of "real" and online friends. At 17, I began a small audio webcast and online community called 3Geeks. Myself and two of my good friends talked about technology, politics, and the intersection thereof, while I simultaneously developed a community web-hosting platform and various forums for us to share our projects, opinions, and interesting news.

Despite a new found interest in becoming a journalist in my senior year of highschool, I made the pragmatic decision to attend and complete (at least) an associates degree in Computer Information Systems at a "nearby" commuter school, New England Institute of Technology. Ironically, it wasn't until after this, when I decided to start taking English classes at UMass Lowell, that I'd land my first "tech job." Having moved out of my childhood home, I worked through my first semesters as a computer repair technician at CompUSA. Following some impacts of the looming financial crisis and increasing personal debts, I ultimately made the decision to abandon my hypothetical writing career for what I already knew.

After some rather unorthodox career choices, I'd landed a full-time position as a systems adminsitration and product support specialist for a small manufacturing company called Contour Design in Windham, NH. There, I had ample opportunity to flex the diversity of my skills, engaging in everything from systems maintenance, custom operations integrations, and ultimately, re-designing and developing their e-commerce site for their secondary product line of iPod and iPhone cases. From the last of these and in combination with my various personal projects, I was finally able to pivot to a more web-focused career path.

In 2009, I joined iMarc (later, Imarc) as a junior web engineer. Due to various personal events, however, my initial stint did not last long. A year later, I'd found myself seeking a relatively fresh start in California. Without allowing for remote work at the time, I decided to take my chances as a freelance developer. Though not intentional, this ultimately resulted in iMarc becoming my primary contract client. After ~1.5 years, the need for more consistent income led me to notify existing clients that I would not be renewing as I was seeking full-time employment again. Whether by chance or by fate, the timing could not have been better.

As a long-time client of Imarc, Motorola was seeking on-site contractors in Sunnyvale, CA. They pitched me the opportunity. After a handful of interviews and a very rapid moving process, I'd found myself in the Bay Area, back with Imarc, but working inside Motorola. For the next 12 years, I made my career inside Imarc. After Google purchased Motorola and the contract ended, I resumed standard work serving a diverse set of clients in a variety of industries. From standard marketing sites, to custom applications and proprietary integrations, my experience in all things related to web expanded rapidly through the early years.

My decision to leave Imarc in 2023 was not made lightly. After championing and leading the successful development of a unified product platform for a meaningful subset of their clients (CPA societies), having mentored a new and capable lead in the process, I was in a very good position. But having been there as long as I had, and seeing the changes through the years, I was concerned that the shift away from traditional engineering to more simple marketing solutions would leave me little room for growth long-term.

In the end, I threw away the safety of familiarity for an opportunity that was difficult to refuse. It wasn't as if I didn't see the cracks before I joined Jobs For the Future, but, in spite of those, I believed the potential to outweigh the risks. For a brief period, they did. In addition to meeting and working with some truly great people, I was able to explore new solutions and technologies in an experimental product incubation team. The compensation dampened the risks further and the dual role of both technical architect and senior engineer on a long running project provided at least some semblance of long-term security. Unfortunately, it was not meant to be.

Amidst the changing political landscape and, in my view, questionable strategic decisions, JFF's need for on-hand technical know-how all but evaporated. I, along with, ~60 other colleagues were laid off in April of 2025. I founded and began bootstrapping Primd in the immediate aftermath. As a worker-owned cooperative with a novel startup/business approach, however, we lack sufficient funding to constitute full-time employment. In the interim, I continue to seek full-time opportunities elsewhere, while taking on occasional contracts and odd jobs.

If you think your organization may need someone like me, don't hesitate to contact me.