[0:01]So, in this video, I'm going to walk you
[0:03]through my early programming history.
[0:07]Before we get to what's on the screen
[0:09]here, I'm going to go back a lot
[0:10]further.
[0:16]So, I began programming in the sixth
[0:18]grade.
[0:20]This was in the 80s.
[0:24]My father owned a business and he got
[0:26]computers very early when they came out
[0:29]and I used to just break his all the
[0:31]time. So I learned
[0:34]just had a natural interest and affinity
[0:36]for it. Started with GW Basic.
[0:40]I built a program in that for my band
[0:42]teacher called Name My Note
[0:46]uh that she used with her students to
[0:47]help them learn notes on a scale.
[0:50]Next, I learned Pascale.
[0:54]That was a fun language to learn.
[0:57]I wrote Monopoly in it. I distribute
[0:59]that on a bulletin board system and got
[1:01]a cease and desist letter as a child.
[1:05]Wrote a bunch of batch tools.
[1:08]This is before I learned about Linux.
[1:12]I distributed those on BBS's.
[1:16]I used to read a lot of programming
[1:18]books. I used to just
[1:22]read them cover to cover.
[1:25]I used to write code on paper.
[1:29]I used to run entire systems in my head.
[1:31]I I could write code on paper and and
[1:34]just run the logic in my head. Just
[1:37]that's how I started building my first
[1:40]real project, the net wizard matrix
[1:42]server, which is one of the very first
[1:44]content management systems I ever
[1:45]created.
[1:48]Very passionate about it.
[1:50]The whole point behind that was so that
[1:52]I could give so I had a solid foundation
[1:55]for building projects on and a way to
[1:58]give my clients the ability to manage
[2:01]some of their own content so they didn't
[2:03]have to rely on me for as much.
[2:10]It had very advanced capabilities
[2:13]that
[2:16]to this day some content management
[2:18]systems have never implemented.
[2:24]And it lacked in many other ways because
[2:26]it was, you know, a a young project that
[2:29]I didn't maintain for more than a couple
[2:31]of years. But it could have grown into
[2:33]something pretty massive if I had kept
[2:35]with it. But I
[2:38]like everyone
[2:42]entered the job market and I did that
[2:44]through freelancing.
[2:47]I actually worked on a lot of different
[2:48]projects uh both on Guru and outside of
[2:51]the platform. So I had relationships
[2:54]with companies like Comcast. I used to
[2:56]write databases for them. Um I wrote a
[2:59]project called Tech Opsswite which
[3:02]they used in the field for their
[3:04]technicians. It was a scheduling system
[3:07]and a way to confirm that they actually
[3:10]got everything working at a house cuz it
[3:12]was an internet based system.
[3:18]I just worked on a lot of different
[3:20]projects over the years with you know
[3:22]the people that I would encounter in my
[3:24]life.
[3:25]Then when I moved on to guru which is
[3:27]what this here is
[3:30]I worked for 25 different
[3:33]employers on there for varying types of
[3:36]projects. So these could have been
[3:39]simple fixes. they just something was
[3:41]broken on their site and they needed
[3:43]someone to fix it for them real fast
[3:46]to
[3:48]scraping data. You know, that's kind of
[3:50]common. Uh it feel felt like back then.
[3:54]Um just and there is, you know, I I'm
[3:57]just going to say yes, there is an
[3:59]ethical line there. This is probably the
[4:01]closest I've ever gone to stepping over
[4:03]my own ethics because, you know, but I
[4:07]felt like it was always done in an
[4:08]ethical way. like we were we were you
[4:11]know scraping from from public sources.
[4:14]So I mean you know there's just some I
[4:17]just feel like if I'm going to put this
[4:19]on video I better just say that much. So
[4:22]um you know just lots of different kinds
[4:23]of projects using lots of different
[4:25]technologies. I've been using you know I
[4:27]know lots of languages and technologies
[4:29]and um I always maintain my own servers
[4:33]so I almost always had my own like
[4:35]environmental server somewhere.
[4:38]um
[4:40]uh to host people's projects,
[4:43]do lots of backend work,
[4:46]and
[4:48]the other projects that I talked about
[4:50]in my other videos um you know, grew out
[4:53]of
[4:55]uh a career in freelancing. So,
[4:59]when I wasn't working on those big
[5:00]projects, this is where I would come.
[5:02]how to come to guru and
[5:05]I feel like
[5:09]so one thing I was
[5:12]one of the I was the only individual in
[5:14]the top 10 in the programming category
[5:16]on guru at the time that I was super
[5:18]active on this thing and I was very
[5:20]proud of that cuz I mean as an
[5:21]individual to make it to that status
[5:25]you know that that feels like something
[5:27]worth sharing especially
[5:31]I mean I'm not bragging. It's not
[5:32]boasting. I just
[5:35]very proud of that.
[5:38]I know that my customers really
[5:39]appreciated the services I provide as
[5:41]these reviews show. And I thought for
[5:44]this video, that's basically what I'll
[5:46]do. I'll go through these reviews with
[5:47]you. We'll look at some of them and
[5:49]maybe I'll tell you a little bit about
[5:50]their projects. Um, another reason for
[5:53]doing it is because Guru has mostly
[5:57]um stagnated. There aren't a lot of
[6:00]projects on there anymore.
[6:03]Everyone is on Upwork. I don't have much
[6:04]of a reputation there.
[6:07]But you can't share links
[6:11]and your proposals to employers.
[6:15]So, I can't show them all the reviews
[6:16]that I have from all the work I've done
[6:18]in freelancing
[6:20]unless I come up with some creative way
[6:22]to do it. And here we are. So, um, just
[6:25]take you through some of these reviews
[6:27]here.
[6:32]So, just starting from the top here, the
[6:34]first one says, "Samuel is super smart
[6:36]and understands the task fast and gets
[6:38]it done right on the first time. Highly
[6:40]recommended." It's a nice review. Next
[6:43]one says, "Absolutely the most talented
[6:45]and capable guru I've worked with from
[6:47]this site and I've used it off and on
[6:48]for over seven years. You will not find
[6:51]a more thorough and creative programmer
[6:53]who possesses the intellect and ability
[6:55]necessary to manage smaller enterprise
[6:57]level jobs. If you have any hesitation
[6:59]on hiring this guru, feel free to
[7:01]contact me directly. Today, Enetwizard
[7:04]is the only guru I would recommend and
[7:05]endorse.
[7:07]My company named Enet Wizard
[7:08]Incorporated, and I started out doing
[7:11]database scraping with this client, but
[7:13]then ended up doing a whole lot of other
[7:15]things.
[7:17]Excellent. Met all expectations and
[7:19]more. deserved a bonus. Will definitely
[7:21]use again and recommend to others.
[7:24]Sadly, I don't remember this one.
[7:26]Excellent work. Highly skilled.
[7:27]Extremely knowledgeable. Will hire
[7:29]again.
[7:31]I
[7:33]remember that one either. Some of these
[7:35]were probably pretty small. I remember
[7:37]Darlow. Our website looked amazing on
[7:39]desktop computers and mobile devices,
[7:41]but it had some issues on tablets.
[7:44]Samuel acknowledged the problem, took
[7:45]ownership of it, spent several days
[7:47]fixing it, and did not charge us
[7:49]anything because he felt the fault was
[7:50]his own. That was very commendable of
[7:53]him and a rare quality. His advice and
[7:55]suggestions on how to improve the user
[7:57]experience of our website were all very
[7:59]brilliant, and he significantly
[8:00]discounted the cost to do make these
[8:03]enhancements just so it would be done to
[8:05]improve the conversion rate on your
[8:07]site. Samuel is an exceptional guru. I
[8:09]can't recommend him enough.
[8:12]He had a very interesting project that I
[8:14]built from scratch. So, he's actually
[8:16]got some other reviews on here.
[8:19]Um,
[8:22]I'm not going to read all of them
[8:23]because you can just pause the screen
[8:24]and read them. Uh, I think there's a
[8:26]couple in here though that I want to
[8:27]highlight. So, I remember Donald Gladi
[8:29]had this interesting um pet adoption
[8:32]service or
[8:34]I think that's not it wasn't an adoption
[8:37]service. He gave certificates for the
[8:40]type of dog you had. I don't know what
[8:42]that it was. He was very passionate
[8:44]about this and his website was broken
[8:48]and you know it was a very
[8:52]messy site. I fixed it for him and
[8:54]whenever you know he needed something I
[8:56]was there and he says Samuel White is
[8:59]easy to work with. He does ask a lot of
[9:01]questions and then solves my problems
[9:03]the very first time. He is fast and
[9:04]extremely proficient. trust this man. I
[9:08]don't know if that phone number works
[9:10]anymore. That's, you know, this is kind
[9:12]of ancient.
[9:14]Um,
[9:18]let's see what else we have in here.
[9:22]So, I think this might have been one of
[9:24]my first reviews. What a fine. Samuel's
[9:26]fluent in JavaScript, PHP, MySQL, CSS,
[9:29]Madright. In fact, everything I threw at
[9:31]him. Amazing speed and quality. Highly
[9:33]recommended. The reason I would
[9:35]highlight this one is because I remember
[9:36]working with him and he was coding
[9:40]himself
[9:42]and would just ask me to do certain
[9:45]tasks and I would do them for him and
[9:46]everything he threw at me I would just
[9:48]turn around for him and in an hour or
[9:50]two and you know that's kind of how that
[9:53]relationship started. It was
[9:57]very fast programmic excellent strategic
[10:00]thinker. I'm always sharing
[10:02]my my thoughts on the patterns that I
[10:05]see in a project and where I think it
[10:07]could go and you know just it's just how
[10:09]my mind works. I'm a systems thinker.
[10:14]I don't remember this one. Thank you for
[10:15]the professional service and quick
[10:17]response. Everything went much better
[10:19]than I thought possible. The PHP script
[10:21]works great and saves me a lot of
[10:23]frustration and time. So, I just wrote
[10:25]some script for this person. I don't
[10:27]know if like um these work. Oh, they do
[10:31]work. Okay. You know, I I wasn't sure.
[10:35]My website is on a Linux server and I
[10:37]need to get a secure script that will
[10:38]allow customers to request a printed
[10:40]catalog. Oh, so I just made him some
[10:42]kind of contact form basically. That
[10:44]would have been easy.
[10:46]Um let's see what else we got in here.
[10:52]Lots of people like to, you know,
[10:54]comment about my speed.
[11:00]This was a very complicated project.
[11:02]This one involved um
[11:06]um
[11:08]a studio that took the portraits of high
[11:11]school students and they and it was a
[11:14]schedule for that was, you know, we had
[11:16]an admin for it and um I actually went
[11:19]down and visited that company when I
[11:22]worked with them. Um, they were in
[11:24]Florida and I drove down there and met
[11:28]them in person and that was a nice
[11:30]relationship.
[11:35]So, I don't remember this one.
[11:43]He had a pretty good idea of what he
[11:44]wanted done, right?
[11:47]Um,
[11:49]but looks like he was happy. I was
[11:51]incredibly impressed with Mr. White's
[11:53]handling of my project. He was very
[11:55]professional. Communication was awesome.
[11:57]Completion of the programming was swift
[11:59]and the final product is doing exactly
[12:01]what I wanted it to do and a little
[12:02]more. Oh, I do remember this. So, yeah,
[12:06]he was doing some kind of tracking like
[12:07]he had a bunch of their little websites
[12:09]that were like landing pages for
[12:11]services that he was offering and they
[12:14]had affiliate um marketing. like he
[12:19]uh others
[12:21]could market his products and so he had
[12:23]to track those affiliates and this was
[12:26]all about cookies and stuff. Yeah, I
[12:28]remember him actually.
[12:30]Um let's see. Robert Sam White work was
[12:32]superb in all facets of this project.
[12:34]His knowledge and technical skill
[12:36]concerning databases is greater than
[12:37]anyone with whom I have ever worked. He
[12:40]completed the project much faster than I
[12:42]expected and even discounted his fee.
[12:44]Moreover, his communication and concern
[12:46]for meeting my needs continues. While
[12:49]after completing his work, he remains
[12:50]open to answering questions and helping
[12:52]me adjust my database. Could not have
[12:54]asked for a more reliable or skilled
[12:56]partner in this project and hope to work
[12:57]with Samuel in the future. So, this was
[13:00]a Microsoft Access database. I've
[13:02]written a bunch of those. I really
[13:04]enjoyed working in that. Um,
[13:08]it's really uncommon to find one now.
[13:10]Even the tech opite actually there was
[13:12]an access version of that. I completely
[13:15]blanked on that for a minute there, but
[13:17]we didn't just have the internet
[13:18]version. We also had an access database
[13:20]version. Um,
[13:23]but I did a whole bunch of stuff in
[13:25]that. I I I really enjoyed working in
[13:27]that environment and um I felt like my
[13:30]design skills were better there. I just
[13:32]I truly loved working in Access. It's
[13:34]just not really a thing anymore.
[13:37]So, this one, Samuel was a pleasure to
[13:39]work with. He responded to all
[13:40]communication quickly, demonstrated his
[13:42]vast knowledge and programming and
[13:44]completed project on time, leaving the
[13:45]door wide open for follow-up questions
[13:47]and training on tools put in place. We
[13:49]look forward to and will award Samuel
[13:51]future projects.
[13:53]So, you can see a pattern there. Um,
[13:59]I always try to be reasonable with my
[14:01]clients and I, you know, I'm very
[14:04]communicative and
[14:07]um, even after a transaction is done,
[14:09]you know, if you have questions about
[14:11]something, I'm definitely there to
[14:12]answer them. And, you know,
[14:17]this the same client as um, earlier.
[14:23]So I was done quicker than anticipated
[14:24]and had nothing to work with from the
[14:26]beginning. Extensive knowledge and was
[14:28]able to complete everything I requested.
[14:30]Oh, I remember this. So this was this
[14:34]was actually pretty cool. So
[14:37]this person
[14:40]bought and sold vehicles
[14:44]like a lot of them and he needed a
[14:47]platform where where he could list them,
[14:50]you know, for sale where people could
[14:51]look at them. I created created a site
[14:54]for that.
[14:59]This is one of my oldest clients who um
[15:02]I knew before Guru and he came on to
[15:05]Guru for future work that I did with him
[15:08]to help me start to build um a
[15:12]reputation on this site. So, it was just
[15:14]an old client that I had and I was
[15:17]always doing database work for him.
[15:23]So that takes us to the um the end of
[15:25]them. Mr. White has been on our team for
[15:27]only a short time, but he has already
[15:29]proven his value through a thoughtful
[15:31]critical analysis of our website. We
[15:33]look forward to a long productive
[15:34]working relationship.
[15:36]Um so that one actually didn't really
[15:38]pan out. I ended up doing a lot of other
[15:40]things.
[15:42]Um, but yeah, these are these are the
[15:44]reviews that I received on Guru and you
[15:47]know, I worked hard for them and I'm
[15:50]going to work just as hard for the ones
[15:51]that I'll get on up Upwork and hopefully
[15:57]hopefully I'm able to build um a new
[15:59]presence on there like I had on Guru.
[16:02]So, that's what this video is for. I
[16:05]hope you enjoyed it.