DLG Software

Summary

I've been an app developer my entire programming life, nearly twenty years. Most of this was SAS-based work in the Pharmaceutical industry developing applications to manage, explore, and report on Phase I-IV clinical trials data. After nearly ten years as an employee I struck out on my own in the mid-90's, starting a decade-long run as an independent consultant in Manhattan. A few years ago I took some time off to try my hand at writing fiction (a somewhat less successful endeavor, though it did produce two novels). This year I decided to return to the appdev world (actually the decision was made by my bank account) and as I considered what work would be most interesting I was amazed at how far web-based apps had progressed in just a few years. I decided that RIAs were the most interesting work out there, and since SAS doesn't have an RIA product I looked around for the best RIA development environment available. And found Flex.

Work History

My first ten years of programming experience was as an employee at some of the top pharmaceutical firms (Pfizer, Roche, the now-defunct Lederle). I worked on some high profile projects, most notably some of the first computerized New Drug Applications (NDAs) submitted to the FDA. These were very sophisticated apps for the time, and these submissions had enormous impact on reducing time to drug approval (a vast improvement over previous submissions, which consisted of delivering a tractor-trailer load of documents to the reviewer's doorstep).

During my decade as an independent consultant I had several of the top Pharmas as clients (Roche, Searle, and an eight year relationship with Pfizer, the largest Pharma). It should be noted that many of these were previous employers.

As for the SAS world, I had an excellent relationship with SAS Institute - I was a SAS Certified Professional and both a SAS Quality Partner and SAS Alliance Partner. I've also presented several invited papers on application development at the annual SAS International users group conferences. A sample: Working with Classes in SAS/AF Frame Entries.

As for the apps I've developed, most were desktop apps using SAS, some MS Win-based, others pure Unix, still others Unix-based with MS Clients accessing them via X Windows. I also developed web-based apps using SAS/IntrNet (a sort of SAS-aware PHP) and lots of HTML, CSS, and Javascript. My most recent project involved developing the UI (and all the backend Unix scripts) of a SAS IDE used by 50+ SAS developers.

A little personal info...

After getting a B.A. in International Relations (very useful for a programming career) I spent nearly a year backpacking around the world, mostly spending time in Australia, Southeast Asia, and South Asia, including nearly three months in India and Nepal (which itself included three weeks trekking through the Himalayas to reach Everest Base Camp, highly recommended if you ever get the chance). I've also traveled a bit in Central and South America, and traveled extensively in Europe, living there for extended periods (exchange student to Sweden, studied in Paris one semester, and was based in Basel, Switzerland for Roche).

Currently I live on the Upper West Side of Manhattan just two blocks from Central Park where I jog at least five times a week.

Recent History

I recently took nearly three years off to try my hand at writing fiction, writing two thrillers (which apparently weren't too thrilling, generating many rejection letters but no income, hence my return to the software development world). This past year I've transitioned from writing fiction to writing Flex code, spending a lot of my time in the many cafes of Greenwich Village reading Flex books and working on my Flex demo apps.

I am now (Q4 2009) finally beginning my search for interesting work developing RIAs. I'm hoping to find appdev work similar to what I've done in the past — exploring/analyzing data, DSS's, etc. (not so interested in creating Flash-y web sites devoted to selling detergent or diapers).