Mark Smith, DevelopMentor

I started my "official" professional career at IBM working on the OS/2 product - it was a fun time filled with lots of kernel debugging and low-level x86 goodness. After leaving IBM, I worked for Micrografx where I worked with a small, talented team of developers providing a simulation layer for OS/2 that allowed Windows applications to run natively on Presentation Manager. Immersed in Windows, I eventually transitioned to that environment and worked on a variety of projects, including a very popular screen saver titled "AfterDark" (flying toasters ruled!).

I decided I liked the independent contractor life so I began working with larger companies like Exxon/Mobil, Fidelity Investments and Verisign, designing and building distributed systems and scalable server-side infrastructure. Being in the telecom headquarters of the south, I've spent a fair amount of time in the telephony space, helping companies all over the world become TAPI-enabled through a variety of tools and code I both sell and give away through JULMAR.COM.

These days, I do consulting on .NET projects and author/teach the .NET curriculum for DevelopMentor. Lately I've spent a lot of time in .NET 3.0 - working with WPF and WCF, and helping clients to map out a migration strategy.

I live in Dallas, Texas and enjoy playing my guitar or reading mystery and science fiction novels when I'm not playing with my 3 (soon to be 4) daughters!