The computer...what a concept! Simplicity combined with complicity. A format of 1's and 0's creating a graphical venue that simpifies our daily activities.

How do you begin to introduce yourself and not be inflated, or worse, fabricated? Let's focus with experience...

My name is Gregg Willow and I would like to introduce myself to you as an Information Technology professional.

I first became interested in the Information Technology industry in 1986. I first attended the Institute of Computer Science in Omaha, Nebraska and received my Two-year Certificate. I had studied the old languages of Basic, COBOL, BAL and JCL.

I got my foot in the door at a local publishing company doing data entry. It was awful! A Computer Operator position within this company became available which I was able to obtain. This was my first taste of the computer environment in the real world and found it to be very demanding. The company was using a Prime Series 50 computer that had to be baby sat constantly. At this time there was no such thing as virtual storage. Jobs would run on one of the disks and if, God forbid, that disk drive became full, the entire system would shut down. Ahhhhh!

I was still going to school at this time but was soon to graduate. The company coded in Fortran and a programmer position became available. I applied for it even though I had never written Fortran. I had to take an evaluation test and brought it to a local library. I grabbed all the Fortran books I could find and attempted to answer the questions. I returned the test and received 50% on it. When my future boss said that I did not do very well I said, "I thought I did great! I told you I did not know Fortran". Hence, I got the job.

In 1988, the company converted the programs and databases to the new, at the time, IBM AS/400 system. It was a major conversion, besides we still needed to learn the RPG II language.

Since then, I have worked on the IBM AS/400 and using RPG II, RPG III, RPG IV and RPG ILE languages. I even dabbled in eRPG for Web pages. I have worked with companies in the areas of publishing, warehousing, insurance, medical and banking amongst others. I have held positions of Programmer, Programmer/Analyst, Senior Programmer/Analyst, Project Leader, Database Administrator, Sub-Contractor and Consultant.

I believe I know the AS/400 very well. I have been involved in programming, database, operating system installs and conversions, security, backup and recovery, you name it and I have probably done it. The exception would be network connectivity which I will get into later.

As a programmer, I have always been intrigued with new ways of building a better mouse trap. I enjoyed contracting and consulting as there was always a new environment to go to, although learning multiple client databases could be a little overwhelming. As a project leader, it was great to be involved with development at a higher level and have the opportunity to mentor fellow programmers. Leading the Year 2000 conversion was a huge undertaking which offered a great sense of satisfaction when it was complete, tested, error-free and six months ahead of schedule. As a Database Administrator, my real challenge was to learn data warehousing. This is a very cool area where you lose the idea of relational thoughts and think in multi-dimensional. I had attended two weeks of training in Chicago, Illinois at ShowCase's training center to learn their Strategy product suite and Hyperion EssBase/400 database. Through these positions I have enjoyed numerous IBM Common conferences.

One area in computing that has interested me since the year of 1998 is the Internet. What a great place for information and as a programmer, a gateway to visual expression. I enjoy writing in the new languages of HTML, Java Script, Style Sheets, DHTML and PHP. PHP has become a personal favorite because of it's flexibility and database connectivity. Creating graphics is a lot of fun though I do not profess myself as a graphic artist. Thanks to Adobe I can be a little visual. As of the Fall of 2001, I accepted a part-time position as an Associate Editor with the top eZine snowmobile magazine, Snowmobile Online. As an avid snowmobiler, this has been a great way evaluate and write about current products. Nothing wrong with free products! I have also done a lot of work with this site. To review some of the sites I have worked on click here.

As life always seems to have a turn in the road you would prefer not to take, sometimes these roads are un-avoidable. In June of 2001, the insurance company I had worked for had been purchased by another insurance company. I guess, why double your staff when all you want are the policies. As a result, I was released from the company.

Evidently I was not aware of the current market place for the AS/400 within the Midwest region. As much as I would prefer not to be in the position I was in, I thought all I really needed to do was contact one of the many recruiters I know, do a few interviews, pick one and take a two week vacation and start a new job. Wrong! There were no jobs available to interview that I liked. Those that were available were in rural areas I preffered not to go. Then the terrible tragedy on September 11^th did not do much for the market place.

This has turned out to be an opportunity to augment my skill set by learning one of the most widely available areas in the Information Technology arena - networks. I have earned my CompTIA A+, Microsoft MCP and MCDBA certifications. Down the road I plan to self-study for MCSD, .NET and CCNA certifications. I attended Connecting Point located in Duluth, MN which is a fantastic school and I have a lot to say about it as well as my ventures through courses taken. Check out my page on Connecting Point and certifications earned by clicking here.

Well there you go. I look forward to getting back to the work force and ideally have an opportunity to utilize my new found skills, hopefully in an IBM AS/400 environment. Hey, AS/400's are connected to PC's.

Thanks for taking the time to read my little bio and please allow me to show you my resume by clicking here.