Midnight Beach is Jon Shemitz

I have been writing software for over thirty years, since I was introduced to a PDP-8 by an eighth grade 'computer club'. I have written software for a living since graduating from Yale in 1981. I spent some time working for a large corporation, and I spent more time trying to make a living by writing shrinkwrapped software, but I have been providing C# and Delphi software consulting and contract services for over twelve years now.

I have written a lot about programming over the years, starting with little filler articles and moving to long articles, chapters, and solo books. (In addition to my new .NET book, I wrote a Kylix book that also got great reviews but that only sold a couple thousand copies.) I write because I like being a writer and because it's probably good advertising, but also I find that writing makes me a better programmer and helps keep me current.

As a coder, I'm fast and make few mistakes. I'm pretty good at debugging, too. I can write great code for you, and I can often fix and/or finish buggy and incomplete code. Whether your project has features to finish or bugs to stomp, I'd be happy to talk to you about ways that I can help. (Because of my new job (below) while I may be able to take on some consulting jobs, I am neither looking for a job nor am I available for contract development.)

My new job : : 23 years of occasionally impecunious independence ended in January, when I took a fulltime job doing what turned out to be media indexing for Linux cell phones in, mercifully, C++. (I had been told I would be doing straight C, but it turns out that only means the APIs have to be straight C.) I'm still relieved to be free of the boom-and-bust cycle, and I've been immersed in a vast sea of things I haven't done before. Even now that I've gotten my footing, they do manage to keep me busy, and it's rarely boring. A huge improvement on most places I've worked! As in, no thank you, I'm not interested unless you want to drive me to work.