Senior Software Analyst &
Systems Architect

Experienced Software Developer and Architect

With 30 years of web development experience and over three decades dedicated to industrial process control, my work lives at the intersection of heavy manufacturing and modern architectural software design.

About Me

At the core of everything I do is my family. My wife and I have built a wonderful life together, and my absolute greatest pride comes from our five children and our growing family of eight grandchildren. They are my ultimate motivation, my anchor, and the foundation of my success.

Obviously, I still enjoy all things techie. Whether I am sniffing the CAN network in my automobiles to emulate a feature the factory didn't include (heated seats, for instance) or writing logic on a Raspberry Pi, I can engulf myself writing code. I also enjoy playing my guitar. I have been playing for almost 40 years and still enjoy it. Finally, I have found enjoyment repairing watches. Utilizing modern technology, even the most intricate watch can be repaired when you can 3D print the parts.

The Early Years: Technology & Music

My drive to understand how things work. Whether it was code or a fretboard, I started early. In high school, my dedication to technology earned me the computer science award (in fact, I wasn't even allowed to touch a computer in the lab after a couple of weeks because my partner wasn't "learning"), but I also had a deep, enduring passion for the guitar. This dual interest led me to attend college on a performing arts scholarship. While the school officially labeled our group a "jazz" band, we were undoubtedly the most rocking jazz ensemble anyone had ever experienced, tearing through sets featuring Lynyrd Skynyrd, Sister Hazel, Creed, Guns N' Roses, and Van Halen.

Industrial Process Control & Maintenance

Professionally, I spent over 27 years building my career out on the plant floor in process control and maintenance. My experience spans everything from management, supervision, and safety to direct, hands-on mechanical and instrumentation troubleshooting, such as tuning valves and diagnosing complex equipment issues. I have always thrived in fast-paced industrial environments, relying on my proven ability to learn new, intricate plant processes on the fly to keep operations running smoothly and efficiently.

Freelance Development & Community Support

In parallel with my industrial career, I have been freelancing as a programmer since the late 1990s. I started coding in PHP and MySQL back in their earliest stages. PHP still stood for "Personal Home Page" back then. I have continuously evolved my programming skills alongside modern web standards. Around 2015, I also began repairing and building computers for people in the local southwest Alabama communities, combining my software development expertise with practical, hands-on hardware troubleshooting.

Current Focus: Manufacturing Execution Systems

When I first transitioned into my current role, our development team was remarkably lean, consisting only two developers who worked directly in the MES framework (Oracle). To ensure our success, we traveled to the PSI North American office in Pittsburgh monthly, sometimes twice per month. Working side-by-side with their engineers was an incredible tool for learning. By being directly in the office with the architects of the system, I absorbed a staggering amount of knowledge, gaining the equivalent of years worth of PSI Metals experience in my very first year.

Today, I leverage that foundational knowledge as the recognized expert at our facility for Auth and Office GUI. I am responsible for building all new screens and actions, and I meticulously manage the data dictionary side of Metals to provide the best possible user experience through intuitive dropdowns, type-assist, and streamlined navigation. This role also allows me to fully utilize my full-stack background, applying my Angular expertise directly within PSI Web and relying heavily on my PL/SQL proficiency to execute complex system upgrades. Additionally, I routinely use TlgViewer to review, manually send, and re-send critical messages between Level 2 and Level 4 environments to ensure continuous operational uptime.

Last, but not least, I do still write php applications that directly or indirectly with the MES. These applications include API's that connect to various MES owned infrastructure and systems to provide value added functions for our team and our users.