I started working when I was 12 years old. I worked picking apples, moving irrigation pipe, and peddling seven road miles each day delivering the San Francisco Chronicle. Sunday papers were hell.
During high school, I worked as a life guard, swim instructor, for a small construction company, and at a supermarket.
At college, I worked in school libraries, specifically in periodicals and government documents. As an unpaid, intern I spent time during my Junior year at UCD doing passenger counts for the staff at the Passenger Rail Division of the California Department of Transportation (CalTrans) in Sacramento.
During the close of my junior year at UC Davis my mother back in Sebastopol, CA started what would become a string of recurring hospitalizations. My on-campus jobs were dropped and I barrowed money from friends to stay in school. A paid internship and a very likely prospect of a Job at CalTrans were all dropped. My mother was in intensive care when I graduated from UCD. I can never thank my friends, or my professors at UCD, enough for their help. With out their help, I would never have been able to graduate.
My mothers illness, death, and associated responsibilities, occupied my time until I moved to San Francisco in 1988. During this time I began doing contract work related to computers, analysis, and transportation. I also spent a considerable amount of time doing volunteer work for organizations in California in support of mass transportation systems.
In 1990 at a conference in Sacramento, CA I was asked by the Manager of Research and Planning at AC Transit (Oakland, CA) if I was interested in working as a volunteer on a project for him. I accepted his offer and within 3 months was put under paid contract for several large projects lasting a couple of years.
Since that time I provided my services to a number of companies and Institutions. One of the more interesting projects was the development, with two other programmers, of a computer model used to calculate station to station travel time matrixes for the San Francisco Bay Area Rapid Transit District (BART) fare model.
Today, I focus on short term projects where my years of experience and breadth of knowledge can be put to good use. I specialize in cleaning up technology systems (and often departments) for companies and organizations of between 25 to 200 employees.
If you are looking for someone who is a technologist that is more focused on business process planning and how technology can be integrated with your processes, give me a call. I can provides valuable insights as to when technology is an asset for an organization and when technology is nothing more than a money pit.
The major organizations I have provided large time blocks of my services¹ to:
2002 to Present:
James Douglas & Associates, LLC)
Managing Director
Business
Systems Analysis, Engineering, Implementation, and Maintenance.
1998 to 2002: Patriot Holdings, LLC ( American Ship Management,
LLC & Patriot Contract Services, LLC)
Manager of Information and Telecommunication Technologies. Responsible
for everything world wide 7x24.
1996 to 1998: San Francisco
Symphony, San Francisco, CA
Computer Systems Analyst, Workstation & Network
Support, and
DB Programmer.
1994 to 1996: California
Tri Technical, Inc. (Microsoft Solution Provider) Oakland, CA
Project Manager, Application
Developer, Network Engineer, Desktop Support.
1991 to 1994:
AC Transit, Oakland,
CA
Project Manager, Systems Analysis, Software Development, and Associate Transportation Planner.
1988 to 1991: James Douglas Sole Self Proprietor, San Francisco, CA
Computer Consulting Specializing in Systems & Business Process
Analysis
Programming - Networks - GIS - Survey Research
FROM 12 YEARS OF AGE THROUGH COLLEGE - EMPLOYERS
University of California at Davis - Main Library - Government Documents
Santa Rosa Junior Collage Main Library - Periodicals
County of Sonoma, CA- Parks & Recreation - Life Guard - American Red Cross Water Safety Instructor (Life Guard Trainer - WSI))
Alpha Beta Grocery - Santa Rosa, CA
Harris Construction Company, Santa Rosa, CA
City of Sebastopol, CA - Parks and Recreation Department - Swim Instructor - Life Guard - Center Director
San Francisco Chronicle -Paper Route
Several Ranches, Lots of Lawns
1. Sometimes I provide service as an employee, some time as a main contractor, and sometimes as a sub-contractor. Basically, whatever is the easiest and appropriate to the clients situation. However, I have never been a "company man".