Mentoring

I wouldn't be where I am now if not for Peter Morrone. I began working with Peter after leaving a consulting firm where my days mostly consisted of c++ hacks, boring installers and c# bug fixes.

Peter and I set off on a mission. It seemed impossible. The deadline was an x on the calendar, less than 4 months from my start date, and even one day late was failure. The software was going to be used for broadcast graphics -- the systems would be running 24/7.

Even with a bare list of requirements, the application required the ability to be remotely controlled and have remote distribution of uncompressed high definition video assets. All these operations had to have fast response times.

On my first day, we started developing and the application grew fast, with technologies and patterns I had never used. By the due date, the application was shipped and delivered, the customer reported 2 bugs over a 3 month period.

Every morning we would get together and discuss what I was doing and what he was doing. We'd talk about designs. We'd talk about how things were going. He introduced me to design patterns and authors like Bob Martin, Scott Ambler and many others.

Peter was more than my manager, he was different than a friend.

I was the sole coder on the project, but if I was alone, the project would have failed.

Peter kept me on track, helped me find solutions, patterns and improved my designs. He trusted me.

He let me grow.

Thank you Peter.