It's been nearly 20 to 23 years since my interest started.

At a young age, I got interested in computers. I thought they were fascinating. I knew it could control the world, and being a megalomaniac, I wanted to control the world. Corny as it sounded, that was the truth of how I got myself interested in software development.

Anyone remember GW Basic? Well, that was what gotten me started in the first place. I learnt some of it at some point in my very young life. I then learnt part of dBase. In 1987, the first language I learnt, Intel Assembly. 3 months down the road, I mastered it, and wrote several Terminate and Stay Resident (TSR) programs. One of those, was one that hooks into INT 21h (the DOS interrupt)'s function call 41h (which IIRC) is the delete function. I merely returned, without doing anything. What it meant was that, when you tell DOS to delete a file, my program intercepted it and do nothing.

After learning DOS, I started with Turbo Pascal 4.0, by Borland International (as it was called then). I followed the release of Turbo Pascal religiously, from 4.0, to 5.5, 6.0, 7.0, then Borland Pascal 7, then Turbo Pascal for Windows 1.0, 1.5 and finally Borland Delphi.

After finishing my studies, I went to Ngee Ann Polytechnic. I flunked a year because I was playing games when the exams were near. So while others took 3 years to complete their diploma, it took me 4 years. After finishing my diploma, I thought I wouldn't study anymore after getting my diploma in Electrical Engineering.

As a true blue Singaporean, the Ministry of Defence then enslaved me. I became a Navy personnel, pushing paperwork. After that, because of my interest in computer systems, I ran a data centre for 3 years in the Ministry of Defence, in a training school on the island of Pulau Brani. During this period, I also designed the web site for that school. Somewhen around that time, my friends suggested that I followed them to take a look at a course, and we ended up signing up the course. So, I became a BSc Honours graduate 3 years later.

In the meantime, I got bored, and so I moved on, to become a Systems Engineer in Chan Brothers (yeah, the travel or tour company) and in the absence of the manager, I took over her function. It was at this time that I got myself certified, so I could say I'm a Cisco Certified Network Associate (CCNA). Life in Chan Brothers was fun, but as soon as I sensed that there was no corporate direction, I left in 6 months. The year was then 2001. In between jobs, I took the opportunity to teach myself new technology, and it was at this time that I became a Sun Certified Java Programmer (SCJP). I joined Yokogawa then, and became an Application Software Developer. In the same year, I went to the Registrar of Companies and registered a business. While in Yokogawa, I was sent to Exxon Mobil Jakarta to set up software because the Yokogawa in Indonesia had problems with their installation. I discovered that their network was improperly set up and fixed it for them. Soon, I ran out of challenges that I gave myself, and with advices from friends who claimed I would be valuable to many companies with my skills in network, systems administration and software, I got certified as a Microsoft Certified Systems Engineer (MCSE) and Sun Certified System Administrator(SCSA). (Hmm, System Administrator? Not Systems Administrator? hehe)

I went freelance shortly thereafter, since the combination of the market and workforce made it impossible for some companies to truly appreciate what I can offer. HDB has recognised me as a Technopreneur, by giving me a license to run a Technopreneur Home Office.

Around the same time, I started writing demo applications for a commercial product with a software company. I also wrote some technical articles for them and got paid pretty well. I have since written demo applications for another 2 products for the company.

For the past year, I've been writing software using Microsoft's .NET technology in C#, hosting and managing my own websites on my own server at my home. What next? I've no idea, but whatever it is, I hope it's fun! As Richard Branson in his “Losing My Virginity” book said, “Screw it. Let's do it!”