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Who is Jim Carnicelli?

Welcome to my resume and portfolio. I'm a professional programmer and graphic artist. I've been working in IT since 1991. I started developing web sites the first week that Netscape Navigator was released in 1994. I've developed many applications for Linux and Windows and the web. Most of the jobs and projects I take are what I like to call "oh my god" projects: the ones that employers and clients consider impossible to do or otherwise emergencies. I take on all roles for software development, design, marketing, and so forth required for success of a project.

These days, most of my work is in .Net (VB & C#), including WinForms, ASP.Net, and so forth. I am an expert in Sql Server, too, and usually design and optimize the DB catalogs I use in my apps.

What's Here?

I have a basic resume that distills my experience down to 2 printed pages. You can also get plain text and MS Word versions as well.

My expanded portfolio breaks things down by job, project, role, and technology.

My portfolio has gotten very large because of all the projects I've done. I've tried to make this more readable by grouping together lots of projects and even throwing out large numbers of them because of the embarrassing weight. You'll find 90 projects highlighted here. Similarly, I've tried to trim down the listing of technologies I know. You can find out more about my experience with the 56 technologies highlighted here.

I have also put together a somewhat thin sampling of the professional graphics work I have done.

My Experience

It's hard to quantify how many systems I've created over the past 21 years. The image to the right includes screen shots from around 40 of the 90 projects I have highlighted here in my portfolio, which in turn probably represent under half of the programs I've done professionally and none of the ones I've done on the side for friends, fun, and so on.

It's not my intention to brag, but it's important to understand that I develop systems very fast. This probably owes to the fact that I'm interested in all facets of software development. When someone gives me a project, it's likely that my first questions will be about the business goals the system is intended to serve, not the technology involved or time available. I communicate well -- in plain English -- with the consumers of my creations to discover what their needs are and make quick adjustments when potential issues or opportunities arise.

When I am developing, I rarely limit my thoughts to the immediate form or subroutine. I make sure that the code I write serves the immediate needs, but is designed for optimal abstraction and growth for future needs as well. Some may wonder if this adds a lot of time to software development. On the contrary; it's a key secret to why I work so quickly. Well balanced, I don't get lost in either the narrow focus of the moment or the castles in the sky of overengineering. And I measure the "elegance" of a solution by how well suited it is to the full context of the situation, not just some ivory tower aesthetic sense. One of the most elegant automation solutions I've made involved a bolt and washers placed on a keyboard.

While most of the software I develop is for fairly conventional business needs, I do excel in and appreciate really challenging projects. I've created an expert system, a self-upgrading web browser plug-in, a sophisticated web spider, one of the first ever web-based mailing list providers, a telephony integration system for a huge company, and so on. Much of my spare time is spent doing innovative computer science and engineering projects.

I'm definitely a team player. I appreciate the camaraderie of a good group of bright people and tend to treat everyone as equals, regardless of experience or role. I am a good listener and communicator. I take careful notes and make sure things don't fall through the cracks. I can organize work for myself or delegate and manage it for others. I make sure when my colleagues are struggling to help them keep up. But I refuse to micromanage others, if only because I always have plenty to keep me busy.