Adding website designer to a career of accountant, auditor, tax preparer and Controller gives new meaning to
the phase that life is full of new beginnings.In January 1986 I resigned from my position as Controller of an international chemical company to go to Alabama to care for my father who was terminally ill with
cancer. After my father's death in April 1986 I returned home to Atlanta. In the days and weeks ahead it seemed that depression was taking its' toll. My husband, being able to sense my state of mind,
came home one night with a computer and sat it in front of me. I had never used a personal computer in my life. Arousing my natural instinct of wanting to know "how it works" the first thing I did
was to take the cover off to see what was inside. The only thing on the computer was PC/DOS and the only book he brought me was the PC/DOS manual. I spent hours using DIR, DIR /p, TREE, etc. Soon he
bought me a new IBM Systems2 computer and this time it had programs on it! That was many computers ago but from my very first computer I was hooked. There was no turning back. I went from PC/DOS, MS/DOS,
Windows/286, Windows/386, Windows 3, Windows 3.1, Windows 95, Windows 98, Windows 98SE learning each platform inside out. Around 1987 I joined Prodigy online services and from Prodigy I switched to the
real World Wide Web, the Internet. Seeing all the pages on the Internet aroused my natural instinct of wanting to know "how it works" and created in me a burning desire to learn to create web pages. I
read and studied HTML and soon was able to create my personal site
~ Charlotte's Web ~ with HTML using Notepad and My Genealogy site.By word of mouth I was soon picking up work here and
there. I designed a site from concept to completion with HTML using Notepad for Hit It Straight
out of Gadsden, Alabama and continue to serve as their Webmaster. In September 1999 Hit It Straight was named a "Featured Site" in Hypermart's Business Directory.
I designed a site with HTML using Notepad for Church & Stagg, an office equipment company in Birmingham, Alabama linking their site to an online catalog. I then designed a site with HTML using Notepad
for Lan's Art.In July 1999 I designed a site from concept to completion with HTML using Notepad for a weekly newspaper in Gadsden, Alabama, The Messenger and continue to serve as their Webmaster.In February 2000 I designed my first sites with NetObjects Fusion from concept to completion for a builder's new sub-divisions
Beaver Creek and for Harbor Point
and continue to serve as their Webmaster.I surprised one of my sisters on her 50th
birthday in August 1999 with a Web page birthday card. It was such a hit with the family that I have had to continue my birthday web pages for family members. Then new arrivals in the family were added. The pages are graphic intense and soon exceeded my personal site limit. In March 2000 I purchased the domain name
CharCards and moved my family "cards" to this site.On August 16, 2000 I passed the CIW Foundations test and earned the Certified Internet Webmaster Associate (CIWA) certification. On August 24, 2000 I passed the CIW Site Designer test and earned the Certified Internet Webmaster Professional
(CIWP) certification. On September 19, 2000 I passed the CIW E-Commerce Designer test and having passed all three tests I earned the (MCIWD) Master Certified Internet Webmaster Designer certification.
Having met the requirements set forth by the International Webmasters Association
, I earned their Certified Web Professional Site Designer certification and their Certified Web Professional E-Commerce Specialist certification.I have enjoyed planning and creating all the websites and working towards my certifications. Most of all I have enjoyed learning new programs and
I am looking forward to learning more programs. I am truly an Internet zealot and an enthusiastic web designer. My background in accounting and auditing has provided excellent help to me in paying attention to
the details and helping me to understand what is needed in E-Commerce websites. Two of my strongest assets I believe are my patience and sticktoitness. |
