I was born in San Juan, Puerto Rico on the morning of July 7, 1967. At 8.5 lb. you would think I’d be quite a big guy by now, but luckily that isn’t the case. I spent the first 18 years of my life living with my parents in sunny Puerto Rico, thus as you might have deducted already, Spanish is my first language (just make me say WWW and you’ll see how true this is). I had a pretty normal childhood, but I was always the kind of kid that would take everything and anything apart just to find out “what made it tick”. You know, the VCR, clock-radio, walkie-talkies, and even Atari game centers (along with the game cartridges). This is how I first became interested in computers and programing. Then, one Christmas day, Santa brought me my first “101 Electronic Projects” kit, and I was hooked after that. That was it, no more policeman, fireman, or doctor answers to the proverbial question: “What do you want to be when you grow up?”
My high school years were spent in Puerto Rico attending the Colegio San Ignacio de Loyola (easy for me to say). From 7th, all the way to the 12th grade, I gave those poor teachers a run for their money. Hey, I even had them at summer time since I spent so many of them in summer school. Yes, I was one of those kids that would stare out the window during class and daydream just about anything; especially if it had absolutely nothing to do with whatever the teacher was trying to teach. Funny enough, this wasn’t the case when it came to science, math, and computer science. Hmmm, I wonder why?
In 1985 I graduated high school (whew!), and that August I was on my way to the University of Massachusetts, Amherst. I was accepted to the School of Engineering, where I intended to get my degree in Electrical Engineering. Four long years later, in May of 1989 to be precise, I finally obtained my Bachelor’s Degree in Electrical Engineering. But then I figured,” if I start working now I’ll never go back to school,” and I had envisioned getting a Master’s Degree in Computer Engineering or Computer Science.
That’s why in August of 1989 I moved to Dallas, TX to attend the Southern Methodist University. I decided I wanted a job designing computers, so I went for a Master’s in Computer Engineering (MSCE), rather than the Computer Science one. I graduated two years later in May of 1991.
Finding that first job wasn’t as easy as I thought it would be. I figured, “hey, I’ve got a master’s degree, they’ll soon be knocking at my door.” Yeah right! I finally landed a job doing something somewhat unrelated to my degrees, but something that I loved to do as a hobby in my spare time, writing software for the Macintosh. My first job was at Microdynamics, Inc., where I was hired to develop Macintosh software geared for the apparel industry. Believe me, it was every bit as lame as it sounds. These people had their heads so far up their butts it wasn’t even funny. To make a long story short (and I know it might already be too late for that), they decided to kill the Macintosh development after just 5 months of my hiring. Again, I was on the market for a job.
After a period of 2 months of endless searching, I began working for Vortech, Inc. as a Macintosh Software Engineer developing medical imaging software. Pretty nifty stuff, no… really! Then one day, out of the blue, I get this phone call from a local technical recruiter (one of the many I get on a monthly basis, Dallas must be the Mecca for technical recruiters), offering me an interview with a “major” software company. This mystery company turned out to be Aldus Corporation, makers of Persuasion, PageMaker, Illustrator, Photo Styler, etc. I decided to give it a chance, so I interviewed and was hired into the Persuasion team. The average time of employment in this industry seems to be right at about 2 years, and this one turned out to be no exception. Aldus Corporation “merged” with Adobe Systems to make, get this, Adobe Systems! Some kind of merge, huh?
After the Adobe acquisition, I went back to work for Vortech, only now it was Kodak Health Imaging Systems (KHIS). It so happens that Vortech was acquired by Kodak, just as Aldus was by Adobe. Fortunately for me, another opportunity came along, and following my trustworthy gutt-feeling, I decided it was in my best interest to take this position with Smith Micro Software, Inc. It was fortunate because not two months after me leaving, KHIS started cutting down on staff and contractors.
So I was hired by Smith Micro Software, Inc. where I’m still currently employed. Even though the corporate office is in Aliso Viejo, CA, the Macintosh engineering team is in Plano, TX. I love this country! We develop a voice/fax/data software solution for the Macintosh called MacComCenter, the best darn communications package this side of the border.
Sometime back in October, 1996 I was at home flipping through the channels, bored out of my skull, when I came upon this channel where this group of guys were talking about the Internet and the World Wide Web. Yes, it was Net Talk Live with Jovan, Laura Lewis, Dave Mathews, Mark Markham, and Kim Adams. I thought it was rather amusing, and besides, I was getting a kick out of correcting and expanding on their every answer (something easier done from the comfort of your sofa than with hundreds of watts worth of lights and a camera in your face). It wasn’t until Dave and Mark attempted to answer a Macintosh related question, which they successfully answered incorrectly, that I decided I needed to email these characters. Well, that was my “foot in the door”, so to speak, into Net Talk Live. I was contacted by Jovan, and after a brief meeting became MacMan, with a whopping 1:30 minutes of airtime at about 11:40 pm. Woo hoo!
I was later promoted (or demoted, depending of how you look at it) to WebHead status, and so it was until the dreaded CueCat came along. This idea came about one day while Jovan was in the crapper (no kidding!) reading the side of an Odwalla juice container. He wanted to know more about it, more specifically know more about the specific juice he was drinking. Looking at the bottle and at the barcode printed gave birth to the CueCat, a barcode reader that could take you to a particular page by simply scanning any product’s barcode. This, of course, gave birth to a new company: DigitalConvergence.com.
Net Talk Live was then purchased by DigitalConvergence.com and we all then became employees of the larger company. I then became the VP of Web Services, and still did the show as usual. Jovan, on the other hand, had to eventually leave the show an be a full-time CEO. The show then changed name to Net Talk Interactive and was hosted by Laura Lewis.
Long story short, DigitalConvergence.com ran out of money and ultimately everything had to go, Net Talk Interactive included. I then started doing Internet consulting work on my own, as the thought of going back to the corporate world sent chills down my spine. I just wasn’t ready to deal with the corporate structure just yet. Years later I got together with a friend, who was also independent at the time, and decided to join forces. We incorporate into a “real” company in December of 2003, kept the name of his company and MacServe.net, Inc. was born, and is where I can be found today.
In that time I have also gotten married and now have two children, but that’s another story. My life has definitely become very complicated, and my spare time very scarce, but I’m enjoying it all.