My primary skill set is real-time embedded software development with C/C++ & Linux, although I have written software using several other languages and environments. I worked mostly with Windows 7, 10, & 11 over the last decade, with a few years of work with Linux. I am currently working on what I expect to be my last job as a software engineer.

I “retired” from my full-time position at FlightSafety International after 6 years, in March of 2021. At the time I started there, I only intended to stay for 4 years, and retire in mid-2019. They persuaded me to stay on a bit longer. I have pretty much lost my desire to retire, but I know I will have to do so eventually.

After my FlightSafety “retirement,” I returned to the DFW area of Texas, and I contracted at Lockheed-Martin for about a year and a half. At LM, I got the opportunity to return to using my favorite OS (Linux), although with my least-favorite distro (CentOS/RH). My first contract ended on March 11th, 2022, and my next contract with LM started on March 29th, 2022 (different division). That contract ended in July 2022 (see my blog post New Opportunity of a Lifetime). After the high-tech startup I was with folded, I moved out of the state of Texas to accept a full-time position where I planned to stay until my real retirement from programming, but I got an offer that allowed me to move back to the DFW area with most of the moving expenses paid. That was a no-brainer for me, and my wife was even happier about that.

I will probably retire completely from programming for a living sometime around 2028 – 2030. Maybe later, if my health permits. After I finish with my current employer, I plan to retire (for real, this time), or more likely, change careers again, back to teaching violin lessons. My first W2 job was with the El Paso Symphony, while still in high school, and I have taught  violin and viola lessons in my home studio. I found that to be one of the most enjoyable pursuits I’ve had, and I think that would be a good “retirement.”

I am a Navy veteran. In the Navy, I was an Electronics Technician, and a Reactor Operator. However, in typical Navy fashion, my actual job duties consisted mostly of swabbing decks, standing watch, and brewing coffee.

Other: I have waited tables, managed a restaurant, washed dishes, sacked groceries, dug ditches, picked cotton, moved furniture, operated construction machinery, been a high-school substitute teacher, worked as a chemist making analytical standards for X-ray florescence analysis, and taught in a community college. But for the past 40+ years, my main occupation has been writing software.

You might wonder if there is anything I haven’t done. Well, I’ve never stood on a street corner with a cardboard sign that says, “Will work for food.” I have also never been on food stamps.