I began messing around with computers in the fifth grade, eventually buying my own during high school. I can't say that I accomplished much with it, but I had a lot of fun programming it.

Oddly enough, I didn't major in computer science in college. I did a double major in religion and sociology, minoring in writing. I then did a masters in sociology, doing my masters thesis about the Promise Keepers' website--studying how they used it and the messages within.

Once out of school, a non-profit organization hired me, making me responsible for the organization's web site and databases. There, I did the design, layout and programming for the website, eventually deciding I wanted more technical knowledge than I had.

I enrolled in Grand Valley State University's masters in Information Systems program, achieving certifications in object oriented programming and network programming. I have only my master's project (a content management system) to finish.

Even before being hired to do websites professionally, I helped one person raise money for charity online, but since then I've been involved with the websites of multiple organizations and hope to keep on working on the web for the rest of my life.