12.Feb.2004
Greetings Rainbow community. I have the priviledge of leading this community into what I have affectionately termed v.Next. There are several ways to create communities and support communities. Blogging has become a hot tool for community development. Just check out weblogs.asp.net for an example. In addition to blogging I find it very valuable to get to know the other developers in the community on a personal level. In order to do this I would like to kick off something I encourage all of you to do as you join the v.Next Project. Biographies. In open source groups like this, nothing is required. Everyone is here because they want to be. Same goes for biographies. If you want to share yours and you are participating in the development of v.Next just let me know. I will create Biography pages for archiving Biographies and I will highlight various community members here on the home page. I strongly encourage links to personal sites, business sites, photos, blogs, etc.
Here goes:
For the last 8 years I have been employed in the Information Systems Bureau at the Idaho Department of Labor. My first 4 years were spent doing desktop and network administration. The last 4 yours have been spent doing web application development, web server administration, and working with developers to help them understand and adopt .NET technologies (specifically ASP.NET). I guess I must know something about .NET because I was recently elected president of the local .NET Developers User Group.
I see myself as a visionary, optimist, encourager, and dreamer. I often tell people to shoot for the moon, then if they happen to miss they still have a good chance of landing on a star. If you do not aim high, then you will hit a low target. As a note for anyone doing research into development communities. I believe they will only succeed when you have a highly visionary leader. Manu has proven that for the 1st year of Rainbow. I aim to prove it for the next year.
Like most other ASP.NET portal developers I started with good old IBUYSPY. I was enhancing my own version for use at the Department of Labor and participating in every IBS community development group that existed just 1 year ago. I still remember reading the forums every day to see what might be new with IBS. I was also running PHPWebsite for my own personal sites and I was frustrated that I did not have a comparable solution in .NET. It is always nice to use the same technology at work and play so that you do not get spread too thin. I also keep my eye on Typo3 a little bit because I think Kasper is an awesome dude. I aspire to live up to his example in several areas. When I get to visit Denmark I hope to meet him personally. He and I have both been adopted into the family of God by the blood of Jesus so we are brothers.
Manu contacted me and briefly shared his vision of a single Portal where all the best ideas and work could be shared and used by all. Why have 100's of different ok portals when we can all work together and have 1 really awesome portal. Manu was and still is correct. His vision may have lost some steam recently, but that is where I come in. I am taking a turn spreading the vision and doing everything I can to create the 1 best portal and expand the vision to full content management and perhaps even complete web server and application administration.
Manu has taught me a lot over the last year. Being involved with the Rainbow Portal developers has been the most beneficial time I have ever spent in training. Yes, training. Sure I have contributed, but I have learned more than I ever could contribute. It is easy to get tunnel vision and only see your company's way of doing things if you never work outside of the company. The Rainbow Open Source community has shared so many ideas, architectures, and strategies with me. I could never buy training this good. When I add in the list of friends I have because of this project it is nothing short of Amazing. Not seeing God, the creator of the Universe kind of Amazing, but seeing His reflection in some of the wonderful people he has created. (note: This is a personal biography. Just like Kasper says in his bio, you don't have to read it or like it. It is who I am, not what Rainbow is)
The core group that Rainbow has had for the last year is one of the best communities I have ever seen. Of course it is the first open source community most of us have ever participated in. I can't remember anyone complaining. I have never been told to stop bothering anyone. I have a killer short list of friends that covers several countries, experience levels, and choices of coffee. Yep, coffee. I love that stuff enough to roast to my own. Tanzanian Peaberry and Sumatra are my favorites. Very strong, but not burnt with a shot of cream so it goes down really smooth and fast.
Finally, I want everyone to know that my family will always win over work, Rainbow, or anything else in this world. I am 33 years old, married 11.5 years to a wonderful woman named Angela. We have 3 wonderful kids and a 4th coming in June. As a visionary I aim to have strong family relationships. If I detect problems in those relationships my priorities will change until the family relationships are in order. With a new baby coming in June you can fully expect my level of involvement in Rainbow to slow over the summer.
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