Hi, I’m Randy Allen. I develop web-based software to solve problems.
How it all started
It was 1995, I lived in Northern Virginia, my best friend got a computer at his house and had this thing called "AOL", he could log in and chat with people and look things up on the "internet", whatever that was. I was instantly hooked.
I started begging mom for a computer of my own, ironically she worked with a guy who built computers and sold them (almost unheard of at the time). Mom had him build me one, I think it was around $1,400 and boy was it a gem - 60 MHz processor and 4 MB of RAM, welcome to 1995.
Turns out - the specs didn't matter, having a computer at home set me on a path. I had found my passion and what I was actually good at. Once highschool came around I signed up for every single computer-related class I could, including web development, programming, and database management. I never looked back.
First computer-related job
In 1998, my junior year of high school, I got a job with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers doing "Computer Automation". I was developing a Microsoft Access database version of their web-based system for users who had no internet connection. It was a great job.
The move to Florida
In 2002 I moved to Florida to be with my girlfriend, who I ironically (but not surprisingly), met online. We're now married with two boys - a whole other story that I will probably write about here sometime.
Within a few months I had landed a job at Fantech Inc., a local manufacturer of ventilation equipment. They wanted proprietary software to handle their returns. Long story short after I built and launched that software they loved it so much I went on to devleop about 10 other systems they used internally to manage customer relations, shipping, product changes and so on. I was with Fantech for almost 10 years.
Starting my own business
In 2012 Fantech relocated their business to Kansas, they wanted me to relocate with them but I was pretty settled here in Florida. I took the opportunity to start my own company. For the last decade+ I've been working with clients to develop web-based software that makes their jobs easier.
Wrapping it up
To make a long story short - thanks Mom.
- Randy Allen