Background
My background is primarily in embedded software. For about 13 years, I have been programming on mobile devices. I have worked in various areas of the stack within the mobile development environment, from baseband radio signaling layers to the ergonomics and user-interface level. Having worked in the industry for so long, I am frankly and pleasantly surprised by its evolution from mono-chrome 5 line displays to the 5″ touchscreen, QHD resolution displays of today. What a journey!
Back in early 2006, I was charged with designing an e-commerce website for the family business. Having no background whatsoever in web-based programming, I was excited and nervous at the same time. The idea of web programming had always appealed to me. Part of the appeal was the ever-changing landscape of the web. From simple HTML to Flash (now probably on its demise?), the web has had a storied journey. The coolest thing about the web is that things can be changed in seconds, not hours.
Anyway, as I delved into the web programming paradigm, I discovered multiple open source CMS (Content Management Systems), that offered varied levels of functionality and performance. One of these CMS that specifically catered to e-commerce application was oscommerce. It seemed like it had a following with a very active support community and add-ons that added values to a vanilla install.
This is how I started my journey into web programming. Quite unknowingly, I might add. I was charged with setting up a website to be e-commerce capable….In the process of doing that, I educated myself in PHP, HTML, CSS, MySQL, Apache and other related technologies.
Seven years later, I am not an embedded developer anymore. I have become exclusively a web programmer. I do some mobile applications here and there, but that is just a hobby.
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