Because I just started this blog, I'll be posting more often than normally.  I have a lot of crap to get out of my system.  I may go weeks without posting anything, but I seriously doubt that.  But for now, I continue to spout...

Like I said, I'm a Software Architect.  That's just my latest role in the field of software.  It is said that modeling is one of the best things you can do towards reaching your goals in life, and in your field of work.  I have had some heroes in my field.

One of my first heroes was an English chap I'll call Richard W-1.  He wasn't perfect -- not at all.  He spent most lunch hours drinking.  But he was one of the first real smart developers I ever knew.

By the way, unless I have only positive things to say about someone, I won't be mentioning full names in my blog.

I was just starting out in my first programming job (seems like yesterday, of course) at a large bank in NYC.  COBOL (which I actually liked -- I liked the verbosity of it.  Maybe that's why I'm a VB .NET guy today).

My first day on the job, right out of the training program, was one of the scariest days of my professional -- no -- my ENTIRE life.  I was in WAY over my head.  I wish I could remember the name of the developer who I had to report to that day.  She had a very non-caring attitude about her job.  Here I am, in my first real programming job (which I thought would be FUN), totally scared to death, because I just took a look at the first program I was supposed to maintain, and it was the worst piece of shit I've ever seen written.  And the person I was reporting to could not care less about her job.  How did I keep my enthusiasm about my field of choice???

Well, I did make it through my first few months, quite well, thank you.  But mainly, it was thanks to Richard W-1, and his English partner in code, Richard W-2.  RW-2 was the NEATEST coder I have EVER known (and HE was always sober, as far as I could tell), but RW-1 was smart as a freaking whip.  You find me a smart whip, and I'll...whatever...

I learned more from these two guys about clean, structured programming, than anyone else in about 5-6 years...

COBOL, no less...

So, the Richard W's were my first real software heroes.