About the Author

Chris Richardson has over 20 years experience in the information technology field. Over half of his career has been on the mainframe platform developing using COBOL, CICS, and DB2. Chris says that his mainframe background has served as a sound foundation for his Windows, Web, and .NET programming transition ”a transition that has included becoming proficient in Visual Basic. Chris likes to point out that he has had the pleasure of being a senior programmer analyst, a lead developer, a systems architect, and a senior software engineer. With a smile, he explains that under each job title, the primary assigned and assumed duty has remained constant: to develop and optimize business solutions using technology as needed. Currently, he is a programming supervisor at a Fortune 500 company, offering his services to a team of Windows, Web, and .NET developers. He proudly reminds people of his mainframe background and jokingly refers to himself as a "reformed mainframe programmer."

Chris divides his leisure time between entrepreneurial endeavors (such as his recent start-up, California-based eClectic Software Solutions, http://eclecticsoftwaresolutions.com ) and studying for his next Microsoft certification exam.