February 21st, 2008

Bio

Business Philosophy

I believe that one person can make all the difference when it comes to creative work. That creativity comes from being well rounded and open minded to new possibilities in a mixture of fields.

Goals:

My goals are to lead a small team to accomplish big changes in the modern web. I want to lead a startup to success and make a lot of friends along the way.

Experience:

I have been working in the flash design arena since 1999, back when Flash 4 was king. While mastering the software I picked up knowledge with many other Macromedia(now Adobe) products including Fireworks, Dreamweaver and Freehand, as well as Contribute and Captivate. I founded farshot.com and actively maintained it until 2006, it still exists in an archival state. Since then I have moved on to working as a web developer and system administrator for an Automotive supplier in Tennessee. There I’ve done lots of Windows 2003, Ubuntu Server, Citrix, Filemaker Server and VMWare administration, as well as the lead Ruby on Rails developer. I developed a cross regional/cross functional workflow application in RoR for my 1000+ person company.

Other Skills:

Programming:

HTML, CSS, Actionscript,
PHP, XML, XSL, Javascript (Jquery & Prototype, Python
Ruby/Ruby on Rails, ferret, mongrel, capistrano, phusion passenger,git, svn.

Artistic.

Flash, Fireworks, and Photoshop.
Dreamweaver, Contribute, Freehand, Illustrator, and Expression.

Office.

Word, PowerPoint, Excel, Filemaker

Databases

Access, Oracle and Mysql.

OS

Both OSX, Linux and Windows.

How I got started:

I got started when I was 17 and got a hold of my first pc, an IBM Aptiva pentium II with 2 gig harddrive. At that time I had already been drawing since infancy. When the computer came into my life I knew what I wanted to do. I started browsing such famous sites as Joecartoon and others when I discovered flash 4, and downloaded the trial edition. The rest is history. By the time Flash 5 came around I was already making cartoons, and my first cartoon was picked up by AtomFilms less than a year later. This lead me into application development (you have to have something to put your cartoons on, so that others can see them right?), which lead me to my current position working for a company in Tennessee.

Clients:

Since then I’ve been making several toons, for various purposes, as well as being an active member and moderator over at flashfilmmaker.com since 2002. There I helped Ibis Fernandez ( the founder) develop award winning software such as the Toon Titan , as well as assisted him with the development of his now defunct Animaton Directory. I’ve also written tutorials, and assisted several animators with their everyday animator woes.

From there I met several very talented artists such as Chris Georgenes of mudbubble.com and have done programming work for him on a few of his clients sites (more specifically GlobalprotectionCorp and mksdesign.com ).

My very own Symbolizer 1.0 has been a success selling copies to some of the most influential flash animators in the business.

Freelance history:

I kind of fell into freelancing when I realized that where I lived there was nobody who had my skills, so I decided I should self promote and offer my skills on an “as needed” bases, plus it beats selling fried fish.

I’ve also done some Ruby on Rails consulting and work for individuals in the Nashville, TN area.

Education:

I’ve got a Bachelors in Business Administration Degree from the University of North Alabama with an emphasis in Computer Information Systems. Currently working towards a Masters in Computer Information Systems with an emphasis in IT Project Management from MTSU.

Final Note:

What sets me apart from other flash and now rails “gurus”? I have excellent project management skills, and I can achieve great results on a budget. I’m easy going, easy to work with, and a generally nice guy, I’m not “all about business” but at the same time, I respect the business aspect. I’m professional and seek to retain clients long term, as well as short term. I’m a problem solver, and I take great pride in my ability to solve client’s problems, even if it only takes a single email. I also have a wide and varied skill set that extends then entire stack of a web application everything from the front end design with flash/photoshop/etc, all the way to the backend side with Ruby on Rails and Linux servers. Great skill set to have when managing agile teams.

Contact Me:

Jim Fisher

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