Zack's Website
My Egotistic and Esoteric Website
My Education
As I write this, I reflect about the type of scholar I was when I was young. I guess to sum it up, I was always interested in trying new things...whether it be Astronautical, Aeronautical, Computers, Architecture, Drafting, etc, etc....the list goes on and on. But I was lazy. (This trait comes in handy however later in life.)
This laziness really started to rear its ugly head when I was a Junior/Senior in High School. I was too busy chasing girls and driving cars and although I still got A's and B's in school, it all just came naturally, I didn't apply myself as much as I should. So I didn't commit to memory some of those crucial life facts. Such as the Constitutional Amendments from Government class, or the Atomic Weights of Elements in the Periodic Table from Chemistry class. To this day, I look back and I feel like I should have just tried that extra little bit. Maybe I'd be doing something totally different with life, maybe not. You just never know....I guess all I can do it just encourage others to "be all you can be" and always strive for perfection.
I personally toured dozens of colleges across the Midwest. I knew I didn't want to go an East or West Coast school. Even at that time, it was full of "leftist/social" agendas and more Liberal Arts degrees than I cared for. I wanted something that would actually land me a job that was productive and beneficial to society. A true career!
Anyway, I visited schools that ranged from total student bodies of 1,500 to even 70,000 students. I knew that Chemistry was in my future, but a smaller school was more my style. I finally settled on Bowling Green State University in Bowling Green, Ohio. They had an award winning department and excellent professors. I planned on Majoring in Chemistry and hopefully someday working for the Federal Bureau of Investigations in Forensic Science.
I'll summarize here, but all that changed...one day...after visiting the Technology building when I had to write a paper. I was comfortable around personal computers, modems, even the occasional Ethernet card or two. But this was totally different! I was surrounded by everything from a Macintosh SE's to a VAX/VMS VT-100 terminal to a networked plotter. It was awesome!
I was able to fire up the "talk" command and chat with my friends up at the University of Toledo, and I even went on a blind date from a "finger" terminal request. These were the days when "bad things" didn't happen on the Internet. You could trust the computer, and the end user. There was nothing malicious behind any of it!
Anyway, I changed majors, and went into Computer Science. I knew I wanted to write software (as a human couldn't be easily replaced) with Artificial Intelligence or machinery for a long time. You'd always need a human to write software (and we always will), so career opportunities would be available to me for the rest of my life. I did finish that Chemistry program and got a minor in Science. I still am fascinated by the "physical" sciences, but I'm finding that in this era of digital communications, commerce, etc, etc. I made the right choice! I graduated in three years (yes - it took a lot of hard work and administrative paperwork), and after all that - I stayed to obtain my Master's Degree in Computer Science as well. I met my wife and she even got her Ph.D. from BGSU also in the field of Communication Studies. Here we are pictured below at an Alumni football weekend.
Am I a superstar software architect/developer/etc/etc? No! There's always something more to learn, there's always a more efficient way to do something. That's why being "lazy" as I stated above is helpful when writing software. The goal is to write performant software that does the job, with the least amount of code, and development time. This tends to cut down on bugs, security holes, etc. So I say that being "lazy" works for me. :-)
This page isn't totally up-to-date, but I'll fill in the holes and details when I get a chance in the future. At least it gives you another peek into my background.