I have been building custom database systems for clients across North America since 1998, using the wildly popular FileMaker Pro database software.

I had established an initial niche in the graphic design industry, creating solutions that tracked finances and shop floor activity on a per project, as well as an aggregate basis. In 2003, FileMaker Inc. hired me on a nine-month contract to do quality assurance on their then-unreleased FileMaker Developer 7 -- the most advanced release in the history of the product.

Since then, I have been developing databases for my constantly growing client base, have become certified in most versions of FileMaker..

I have written articles for the FMWebSchool newsletter, which was read by over 9000 FileMaker developers, and for a few years I ran the monthly meetings for FUDGEO (the FileMaker Users and Developers Group of Eastern Ontario).

More recently, I had an instructional blog that has become an instant hit in the FileMaker community; I used it to teach intermediate layout techniques to beginner FileMaker developers. In recent years, I've done subcontract work for one of the most respected development firms in North America.

Some of the many solutions I've created:

• Project task management and financial systems for graphic design/communications firms.
• A grant-tracking system for a government department.
• Project management systems for the communications departments of some government agencies.
• A manufacturing scheduling, payroll, materials management solution for a furniture manufacturer.
• A contact and convention management solution for a worldwide peer counseling organization.
• A sales and insertion order system for a publishing company.
• A time card system for a non-profit organization.
• A registrar and scheduling system for an art school.
• A full accounting system.

Before turning to database development full-time, I spent six years as a bookkeeper/accountant, and earned a college diploma in manufacturing systems.