Uncategorized mwilliams on 05 Dec 2006 09:30 pm
About
My name is Matthew R Williams (Matt, Criticman, moboMatt) and I am a professional web developer. I have been coding commercial websites, intranets, and databases for over nine years now. In that time I have dealt with a vast array of programming languages, operating systems, databases, and personalities. Technology is rapidly changing, but it is the interaction with people along the way that I find fascinating.
Most Exciting Project
When trying to decide which project I have worked on was the most exciting, I realized that each one had its own highs (and lows). Still, nothing seems to impress people more than the fact that I worked on an advanced business process management intranet application used by the BMW Manufacturing Co, located in Spartanburg, South Carolina. I was only a sophomore in high school when I started working on this project directly under the owner of Tecknowlogy FYI (now alQemy), the company that BMW outsourced the application to. I even got to see the BMW Z8 being tested in their labs before it was released to the general public. Those were exciting times, especially for a sixteen year old.
Blog Platform
This blog is running on WordPress 2.0 and the theme is a modified version of AquaBlue by Sadish Bala. As I find more time, I will develop my own custom theme for this site.
Hosting
I have long been running on my own dedicated server, but it took some time to find a provider that was worth the money. It was either latency issues, sharing IP blocks with spammers, getting hacked (due to the provider’s poorly configured firewall), or just plain poor customer service for a couple of years (and about five companies). I finally broke down and realized that you get what you pay for. 
I have been with Rackspace since early summer 2006 and I could not be any happier. I am definitely paying more than I had previously, but they keep things running and make my life a lot easier, so that I can focus on work and enjoying life. I am a Rackspace Solution Partner, so please contact me if you would like to know how you can put their managed dedicated servers to work for you.
[more to come]