mlsamuelson.com

I'm a web developer specializing in the Drupal content management framework and related technologies (PHP, MySQL, XHTML, CSS). I am known to make the occasional contribution to Drupal, but not nearly as frequently as I'd like. I work in state government with a number of projects based on Drupal and a few custom coded apps. I speak at conferences. And occasionally I engage in special projects and consulting as Dotted i Design.

I'm a proponent of open source software and consider it an integral part of a healthy software ecosystem. I range widely among the various OS platforms (Windows, OS X, Linux), usually within a single work day, and am especially fond of the command line way of getting stuff done.

I've been working with computers for years - having run a BBS out of my bedroom during junior high, when the Internet was not yet in existence.

Beyond development, I'm a father, husband, and dilettante who has dabbled in film, video and writing. Web development and the occasional design project, however, tends to satiate my desire to create and engage in critical analysis.

I have a degree in English Literature which has served me very well in web development and equipped me with the analytical tools and critical thinking skills required by the profession. Because of this background, I tend to approach the work of web development as a craftsman more than a engineer. This lends itself to a pragmatic eye and an easy way with non-technical individuals (marketing people love me because I can bridge the gap between their world and the developer's world fairly easily).

I don't know that I'll ever be a rockstar developer due to my ranging nature (often a plus given many of the understaffed projects I've worked on, which require someone to attend to a lot of different details), but my comprehensive experience and array of skills means I do make a fine session musician.