Gilbert Backers

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My Career

Current Position: Programmer, ISS

I am currently a programmer for RE: Innovative Software Solutions (ISS).

Background

I'm a computer programmer by education and trade, having completed all the coursework for a Masters Degree in Computer Science years ago. I've had various programming jobs over the years. See a brief discription here.

Current Personal Project: Zayahlvist 5

Before I started my current job, I started developing a website, Zayahlvist 5, to display some of my programming skills and other abilities in a growing online portfolio.

I use PHP to access an SQL database of information to build the website's pages. I create and manage my own database tables to store the content information. Currently, I am customizing a Wordpress Theme to manage the page layout and the updates about the site. As I grow the site, I'll create a fully customized Wordpress Theme of my own design.

I decided to adapt one of my science fiction story ideas for the website. Thus was born Zayahlvist 5. The story provides growing content over time, a theme for the graphics that I design for the site, and a basis for the science fiction look and feel of the new Wordpress Theme I'm developing.

So, the job at ISS when I started was on a contract (I can't go into specific details) that was initially for i hours per week for n months. Well, soon after I started, the contract expanded to j hours per week for m months where j > i and m > n, which is awesome. In fact, j is far greater than i on many weeks. It's a good job at a great company. Zayahlvist 5 will progress more slowly than initially anticipated.

Some of the graphics in Zayahlvist 5 are placeholder line art. I will start replacing them, one by one, starting in February of 2021. I'm working with a new, more powerful graphics program and things look promising. But with my current day job, things will most likely progress slowly. I plan to be at this company for a long time so Zayahlvist 5 development may stretch out over many, many years.