My professional software development experience began my sophomore year at Texas A&M University.
I was a sophomore, studying to become a Mechanical Engineer, and the thought of developing software professionally had never crossed my mind when I found the Department of Food Services was looking for a student worker to do data entry. I could type like the wind, so I got the job. Soon after I started work, I learned everything I could about FileMaker databases, and my supervisor realized I could help them more by developing applications than by entering data.
By the Spring of 1999, my junior year, I still planned to become a Mechanical Engineer, but I was really enjoying my work with databases and I had learned to do just about anything with FileMaker. That’s when I began to work freelance for a small dot-com company in Silicon Valley, Quetzal Consulting, also known as MedicalHost.com. The work was challenging, the pay was great, and the Dept. of Food Services was very accommodating with my schedule. So, I was working two jobs (~30 hours / week) and going to school full-time. Somehow, I graduated in just four years with honors. Unfortunately, it took me four years to figure out I should have been studying Computer Science! It was too late to change majors, and it didn’t seem to matter in the dot-com world.
The Department of Food Services at Texas A&M University has several managing units that cater University-related events. This solution allowed multiple units to independently schedule their events, complete event agreements, search previous events, and manage upcoming events. Catering administrators had privileges to search and modify any catering event within the department. For audit purposes, accountability was crucial; thus, the solution kept careful track of the last user to modify any event, and required Accounting’s approval to officially cancel any orders. The Accounting Department also used this solution to generate invoices and manage their client list. I was one of two developers on this project.
The Department of Human Resources chose several departments to participate in a new management program called the Positive Performance Management System. This solution computerized the paper logs, employee tracking, and the rules for putting an employee on notice. In minutes, FileMaker generated the reports required by this management system, saving the personnel department days of tedious calculations. Another feature of this program was the online tutorial to familiarize new users with many of the routine tasks. I was the primary developer on this project.
The training department of Food Services created a new system by which to train employees and help them advance in pay levels. This database solution tracked the courses taken and the credits earned by all Food Services employees. Each employee could select between four career tracks, each of which had different requirements to advance in levels. The training department controlled both the track requirements and employee attendance/credit through a user-friendly database interface. They could also print several types of reports to keep management and employees informed. I was the primary developer on this project.
The Department of Food Services sells food through various franchises, all of which require detailed reporting of sales. At the end of every month, this program would generate comprehensive weekly and monthly total sales reports for each franchise, clearly indicating the monthly franchise fee, based on their sales. I was one of two developers on this project.
This database solution tracked the menu and the nutritional information for all the main courses. Every morning it automatically generated web pages containing menus for the current day and upcoming week, along with detailed nutritional information. It also printed the daily menus for each facility. I was one of two developers on this project.
There’s a spirit can ne’er be told...The Spirit of Aggieland