I think I’ll take the easy way out and (mostly) reprint the Q&A from an interview I gave during a previous DonationCoder NANY promotion.
Q. Please tell us a bit about yourself.
A. My name is Jody Holmes and I’m a 50 year-old husband and father. My wife, Valerie, and I have been together for 30 years and we have two daughters, Alexis (Lexi), 24, and Sienna, 20. My day job is as a Systems Engineer (SE) for Fortinet.
Q. How’d you get started with computers and build up your skill set?
A. Whilst growing up, our family always had computers and video games. I wrote my first program, ever, using Intellivision BASIC on an Intellivision II (I still have the system). I also still have the first computer my parents bought for my brother and I, an Atari 130XE. I wrote countless ASCII-based games on that Atari when I was a kid.
Q. Which is your favourite programming language? Which tool do you use for creating apps?
A. I currently use AutoHotkey for most everything due to its ease of use. I use Notepad++ for an editor (after using PSPad for many years). In previous jobs I’ve had, I developed in C and Java.
Q. How and when did you get involved in Donationcoder ? What you would like to see in Donationcoder in future?
A. I signed up right when the site started out (charter member). I can’t recall what brought me there, however. As for the future of DC, hmmm, I like the way it’s going now. Jesse (mouser) and all the members have built a really special site and community over the years.
Q. How much time do you usually spend on computers/proramming?
A. Several hours per week. Sometimes several hours per day.
Q. Do you have any other projects on the go other than your NANY app?
A. Yes, go here: http://www.dcmembers.com/skwire/software
Q. Do you have any experience with operating system other than windows? How much do you get involved in them?
A. Yes, I’m well versed in *nix, Solaris, and BSD environments.
Q. What are your hobbies and interests away from the desk?
A.
- My family
- Ice hockey (have been playing since I was a boy)
- Collecting video games and game consoles
- Reading (fantasy, science fiction, history/military/espionage (fiction & non-fiction))
- Languages
Q. Who or what in your life would you say influenced you most?
A.
- My wife. She is the rock in my life.
- My mother. She pounded manners and English grammar into my skull. They have served me well over the years.
- My two daughters. Every day, I look at them and shake my head in amazement (or frustration, haha).
Q. Your favourite stuff from : Food/T.V.Show/Website/Books/Music?
A.
1. Food: Just about anything. I’m not picky.
2. TV show: I watch very little prime time TV. If I watch TV, it’s almost always a hockey game.
3. Website: No real favourites, per se. I do subscribe to a lot of RSS feeds to various sites, though.
4. Books: Anything in the following genres: Fantasy, science fiction, history/military/espionage (fiction & non-fiction).
Q. Any advice you’d give to new programmers?
A. Start small and don’t be afraid to get your hands dirty. Once you have an idea, the key is to break it down into what you think are logical parts. When you’re first starting to learn, it doesn’t matter if those parts are right so long as they make sense to you. It’s much more important that you actually try to write the code for each part than to do it right. Also, don’t just sit there hoping the code will write itself. It won’t.
Q. Where do you see yourself in future?
A. I know this will sound like a cop-out, but I’ve never been the type to look too far ahead.