I recently applied for a Business Systems Analyst position with United Network For Organ Sharing (UNOS). This is the organization that facilitates every organ transplant performed in the United States. Using technology to save lives sounded like a great use of my expertise, so I even lowered my salary requirements — I may be a mercenary, but I’m a mercenary with a conscience.
Part of the application involved a “writing sample”. Here’s mine:
I have been working in the arena of web development since 1993, primarily in Perl and PHP, using MySQL and PostgreSQL on the back end. Since I have been doing web development since the early 1990s, it goes without saying that I am an expert at HTML, XHTML, CSS, JavaScript, and Section 508 compliance. Over the course of the last decade I have done everything from graphic design and web-based application development to systems analysis and information architecture. Roughly half of my experience has been in the realm of Systems Analysis: gathering requirements, meeting with stakeholders, prioritizing feature requests, researching available technologies for feasibility, and so forth. In the majority of my projects, these tasks were simply part of the development process.
The details of that process vary depending on the client and the project, but each project has certain steps in common. For example, when developing the Internet and intranet sites for the US Coast Guard Naval Engineering Division, my first step was to meet with representatives from each department and gain an understanding of their existing business processes. Once I understand the client’s current processes and needs, I can begin evaluating technologies to create a design plan. Sometimes the technology that I would prefer to use is unavailable, which poses challenges. In the case of the Coast Guard project, their web server was managed by individuals with no experience in server administration. As a result, they elected to use Windows NT as a web server, and the only server-side scripting engine available was Active Server Pages (ASP), a language based on Microsoft’s Visual Basic: in other words, it was the worst possible server environment in terms of both its reliability and its functionality. Meeting the needs of the client under such conditions required creativity and flexibility on my part, but I was up to the challenge, and the Naval Engineering Division still uses the Internet site that I developed for them in 1999.
Fortunately, most of my projects have not labored under such limitations. The bulk of my programming experience is with the Linux, Apache, Perl/PHP, MySQL/PostgreSQL environment stack, and this is my preferred development environment. For example, in my project designing the Commercial Fishing License System for the Virginia Marine Resources Commission, I am leveraging these reliable, open source solutions to create a scalable, affordable system that will meet the client’s needs without the onerous burden of perennial licensing costs and weekly server reboots.
Of course, designing and developing the system is only part of a successful project. Another task I have always enjoyed is the documentation and training involved. As a contractor, I see myself as the gunslinger who comes into the town, cleans it up, and then moves on. In order for this scenario to play out as intended, I have to completely document the project and train the users so that the client can make the best use of my work once I am gone. For example, at Joint Forces Command a large portion of my time was spent in direct support of the content authors who create learning modules for the Partnership For Peace Learning Management System. This entailed answering their questions and documenting the answers so that the information would persist after I departed. As a part of this project, I established mailing lists, discussion forums, and issue tracking tools. In one form or another, I do this for every project.
Aside from the development process, which differs in the details but otherwise is similar from project to project, there is another trait which unifies the majority of my development experience: I have been fortunate to have worked for clients who make the world a better place. The Coast Guard saves lives on a daily basis, and I helped them to do their job. The Partnership For Peace is helping former Soviet satellite countries join the Western world and cooperate in peacetime crisis management missions, and I made a real difference in their ability to carry out that objective. I have always felt that the core responsibility of my job is to make other people’s jobs easier, and it pleases me that I can be proud of the jobs that I have helped other people do.
The response?
My client reviewed your resume and would like to locate someone less technical and more in love with Microsoft since they are a Microsoft shop.
People’s lives are at stake, and they’re a “Microsoft shop”? That has to be the saddest thing I have heard all week.
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Blackmoor Vituperative
