Hello! I am Joe Pool, and I thoroughly enjoy writing programs in C#! I'd
like to take a minute to tell you who I am, and what I am all about.
Years ago after graduating high school in Henderson, I enlisted with the
United States Marine Corps where I
was assigned the Military Occupational Specialty of Basic Metal Worker
(MOS 1316). There I became very good at welding, and I learned arc (SMAW),
Oxy-Acetylene cutting and welding, MIG (GMAW on mild steel and aluminum)
and TIG (GTAW on mild steel, aluminum, and stainless) welding. I developed
a love for fabricating new designs that has lasted me to this day, but
could not see myself breathing welding fumes until I reached age of 65.
After my Honorable Discharge in 1992, I used my G.I. Bill to study physics
because I was interested in learning the causes of both gravity and magnetism.
I first enrolled at
Kilgore College and
later transferred to the
University of Texas at Arlington.
I received my Bachelor's of Science degree in physics in 1996, but found
graduate school disappointing when the courses dug further into the same
concepts I had learned as an undergraduate. More complex mathematics was
involved, but I was not grasping a better understanding. I lost interest,
and left the academic life.
My first job held the title of Electrical Engineer. The position turned out
to be nothing more than a technician's job using AutoCAD and cutting wires to
length; however, it was where I met my first Software Engineers and learned
that computer programming was much more than the mindless accounting exercises
I was given as lessons in school.
For my next job, I used the love of computers I developed from the Commodore
64 I played with as a child and the knowledge I gained from two C/C++ computer
programming electives at UTA to find work as a programmer.
The recession following ENRON in 2001 left me working at a remedial job for
a little over two years while I brushed up on my skills at a local community
college in SQL and first learned what the new .NET Framework was all about.
I have had the pleasure of working as a Software Developer since 2003.
Shortly after returning to East Texas, Kathleen and I were married.
Today, we have one little boy who loves action (swords, guns, knives, etc.).
He is a lot of fun and a lot of work at the same time.
My wife and I, at our family function on Christmas Day, 2011.
For a short while, I pulled in a little extra income by running a moonlighting
business under the name
Joe's Welding. Dangerous working conditions and
non-paying customers prompted me to sell my mobile welding equipment about the
time my son was born.
Today, I my main employment comes from Software Development in C# for SQL access with PCs and Mobile
Devices at
Aaon, Inc., in their Longview, TX facility.
Where I am not known by my code, I am known by my motorcycle: I am one of the
few riders who loves the Harley-Davidson XR1200. Pictures of my modified
XR
are posted on websites around the world, and I go by the screen name
JoeP on the
XR1200 Owner's Group.
