About Me

Hello and welcome

I was born and raised in the great state of Texas. After high school, I decided to join the U.S. Air Force.

My journey began as an F-15 avionics technician/repairman. I enjoyed working on airplanes, especially the process of gathering feedback, troubleshooting, finding the problem, and resolving it. I honestly wasn’t sure though, if I wanted to be an aircraft maintainer forever. I was still searching for my career path.

I re-enlisted and got a follow-on assignment to teach. I took college courses in educational psychology and got an associates degree in “Instructing.” This involved creating exams, writing study guides, creating lesson plans, developing presentations, while also doing stand up instruction. I set up our classrooms with 60 inch touch screens, installed LAN wiring for faculty offices and taught over 5000 hours. I earned the Air Education & Training Center Master Instructor certification. Although I first thought I’d like corporate training, I still wasn’t sure if training would be my career path.

I re-enlisted and got an assignment developing instructional applications. I got to work with a team of graphics designers, programmers, 3D artists, and Instructors. We built applications for instructors to explain difficult concepts to their students. For example, our applications demonstrated real-world things like– the inner workings of hydraulic systems, how fuel systems work, telecommunication systems, avionics, engines, electrical circuits, etc. We also designed courses for the Air Force’s online learning system, also known as ADLS. I got so involved in digital design I earned a bachelor degree in visual communication and graduated cum laude. I taught myself to program using the Actionscript language. For the first time, I felt like I found a job I could enjoy doing long-term.

But wait! There’s more! I re-enlisted and got an assignment developing realistic aircraft simulators. It was my responsibility to make sure all the F-15 maintenance simulators worked like the real aircraft. I got to use the simulators when I was an instructor and remembered several areas that could be improved. Although it was an honor to serve my colleagues in this way, I didn’t feel like simulator development would be a long-term career.

I finally retired from the U.S. Air Force and figured I’d work in information technology. I first studied computer hardware when I was an aircraft repairman. Aircraft systems use the same concepts as todays information tech. For example, aircraft have central processors, graphic processors, displays, microphones, buttons, switches, direct memory access, busses /networks, and a programming language to make it all function.

I started to teach myself programming when the Internet was opened to the public in 1991. I built a faculty website which I used to deliver classroom presentations. I eventually got into full stack development–both front end and back end. I had a passion for things like designing intuitive interfaces (UI), organizing the information architecture, setting up the database, and programming with languages to bind it all together. I’ve used various languages, but I really got started with ActionScript.

Currently unemployed, I enjoy being creative, making things, that’s my passion. Covid-19 is a great time to get creative and make things.

YOLO. You only live once. Create a life worth living.

I’m a jogger. The American Heart Association recommends at least 150 minutes of cardio activity per week (that’s 2.5 hrs/week or 130 hrs/year.)

To a healthy world,

Marshall