Michael Maddox, About Me
Last Update: June 2005
I’m 30. I’ve been married for almost 10 years. I have two children: Lucas age 4, Katelyn age 6. I’ve been a professional software developer for 10 years. I've been an independent consultant (full-time) for 1 year. I've been a small software business owner for 6 months. I’ve studied at the graduate level in Software Engineering and Business Administration. I currently live in Shakopee, MN and work in various suburbs of Minneapolis and St. Paul, MN (the "Twin Cities"). For fun, I play console and computer games with my kids, read weblogs, and watch Tivo.
My most prominent unique personality trait is my tendency to be obsessive. Once I get a passion for something, it’s best just to get out of the way. I’m constantly trying to break my addictions (which is why it’s a blessing that I never experimented with drugs or alcohol). I can get addicted to just about anything once I believe it is a useful and stimulating use of my time. On the selfish end of the spectrum are computer games which provide the mental stimulation that I crave. On the giving end of the spectrum, I love to teach other people the things I’ve learned and make their lives easier in some way.
I’ve always loved problem solving. It noticeably developed in junior high algebra with word problems and later moved to computer science (when math became strictly abstract and proof-oriented) and more recently moved to business when I realized how much more challenging, not to mention profitable, the problems are.
My resume is available here.
My primary career is, and likely always will be, as a professional software developer. Right now, I'm pretty sold on Microsoft's vision with .NET and spend much of my time as an independent consultant in that arena.
After going "horizontal" as a software developer for 10 years, I recently found an industry I am interested in going "vertical" in. I'm spending as much time as I can now working in and learning about the financial industry. If the hedge fund industry were a bigger market, I'd concentrate even more specifically on that one sub-segment of the financial industry.
Eventually, I expect to be "full-time" running an ISV developing and selling great software for the hedge fund industry.
This section is fairly immodest and self-promotional. You probably want to skip it. :)
I've leave the exercise of determining how many of these accomplishments were skill and how many were luck up to the reader. I would say there was a fair amount of both.
Ever since I was a little kid I’ve been playing console and/or computer games. We had an Atari 2600 and a series of Apple II computer’s when I was growing up. It wasn’t until high school that I had access to an IBM compatible PC. It was at that same time that I was introduced to multiplayer online computer games, something I found very addicting for ~10 years. I now play mostly console games with my kids (their current favorite is Mario Party).
My daughter has been playing poker since she was four and now at age six she can play most of the popular variants (Hold'em, Omaha, Seven card stud high/low, Draw). It was a fun way to teach number recognition, sorting, addition, and other basic math skills. My son prefers "go fish" and "crazy eights".
When I dabble in sports, it's usually tennis or golf, although that has become much less common (too much working on the weekends?).
I spend way too much time reading weblogs. I still read books from time to time. Over the last few years, I've migrated from technology books to business books to hedge fund books. The more excellent free content that is available online, the less likely I am to buy a book.
Books I’m currently reading:
Books I recommend to everyone:
Really, weblogs are where it's at now. Here are my current favorites:
I generally avoid spending money as much as possible. When I do buy something like a computer game or book, I rely heavily on recommendations from others (think Amazon.com’s rating and user comment system). I generally have plenty of money to maintain my current lifestyle, but any significant purchases (>$1000) usually go through at least a few months (if not years) of contemplative delay. I buy my cars used and drive them into the ground. Some people pay almost as much every month in lease payments as I have paid per year for the life of my car. I have no problem saving money. My 401k has been maxed out my entire career. Both my wife and I have maxed out Roth IRAs (and IRAs in the pre-Roth days) almost every year since we graduated from college. We have established 529 plans for both of our children. My priorities in life are always focused initially on the long term and only after the long term has been addressed do I concern myself with the short term.
This list of people tends to change yearly and has become heavily influenced by weblogs:
A software ISV who is generous enough to share his lessons learned with others and hosts a wonderful The Business of Software forum at Joel Spolsky's place.
Another software ISV who is also generous enough to share his lessons learned with others. It's difficult to put into words the positive effects he's had on software developers everywhere.
So, his TV Show the Benefactor bombed (but I enjoyed it), but this guy is just a class act all around. He's a worthy role model for a lot of people for a lot of reasons. On two different occasions, I have sent him an e-mail and he responded within 4 hours. That is incredible for so many reasons.
Life balance is very important to me and it’s a daily struggle to achieve. I love the sense of accomplishment that I feel when I get things done, but I have to stop myself every now and then to relax so I don’t get burned out. I have a tendency to branch out and take on more and more work until I feel overwhelmed. Then I hunker down, clean up my to-do list, and start all over again branching out.
I wish I knew what the meaning of life is, but I don’t. I know it’s important to have things you care about. I know it’s important to help other people as much as possible. Meaning in life has to be created by each individual, and my creation is best described by my passion list above. It’s fairly high level and generic so it can stand up to the constant changes my life goes through every day. I choose to embrace change and live change. I choose to live life with integrity, determination, tenacity, and charity. I love life!
© Copyright Michael Maddox, 2002-2005