Hello, my name is Derek Manson (no relation) and welcome to my new home on the web, DerekDesigns.com. Here is a quick biography of my work history, my hobbies, my family and a bit about what I do. The paragraphs to follow will showcase my past, my present and what the future holds. If you’re looking for a cliff note, here’s a quick run down. I’m 30 years old, living in Portland, Indiana with my wife Betty and two children Sadie and Nathan. I currently work out of my home office offering web development and design services as well as computer repair, virus/spyware removal and professional computer consulting.  I enjoy such hobbies as watching Spongebob with my kids, laughing with my wife, camping, outdoor grilling, listening to loud music, playing Halo 3 and watching various documentaries. If you are looking for a web developer, I ask that you please contact me to see if I can offer my services. I thank you for visiting my website and as a token leave you with a small piece of advice.  “Man can not live on bread alone. He must have peanut butter” – Brother Dave Gardner.

The Past

I graduated from Colonel White High School, in Dayton, Ohio in 1997. In high school is where I was truly introduced into the computer world. I remember being asked if I wanted to join a group playing video games in the lab. At the time I had no idea about games on computers and what they were capable of. The game was Quake and I was hooked! I changed my focus in high school and started learning all I could about computers. I quickly picked up typing and later learned how to program in DOS. Sometime in my Junior year I started to work and managed to save up enough to get my very first computer, a Packard Bell. Little did I know then that this was a junk computer. But it opened the door for me. That computer crashed just about each month I owned it and forced me to learn how to repair my computer. The rest just followed suit. It was in my senior year that I was looking to major in some area of computers in college. I found a great program and registerd for summer classes almost 3 months before my graduation from high school. I graduated from high school among the top 10 of my graduating class. A week after graduation I was taking college courses. A semester into college, I was hired by a consulting firm, working as a helpdesk technican for NCR and their global workforce. I supported proprietary software designed by NCR and additionally offered support for third party products such as Microsoft Office, Exchange and Lotus Notes. That contract work expired and it was on to the next job. All the while, I graduated from college. I went on to work for such companies as National-City Mortgage, Wright State University and Easylink Services. While my work experience continued to grow, I found one technology that I enjoyed most of all, web development. I then started learning to code HTML using at the time, the best HTML editor available, Notepad. Those skills later grew into creating full layouts using Frontpage, GoLive! and the early versions of Macromedia Dreamweaver. I currently use the Adobe Web Premium CS3 package for all of my web development needs.

It was then I decided to try something I had always wanted to. I joined the ARMY National Guard with a unit located in Kettering, Ohio. I went on to basic training at Ft. Knox, Kentucky and AIT school in Ft. Gordon, Georgia. I came home to marry the one woman who stole my heart, my lovely wife Betty. After having our first child, we then relocated to Indiana. I currently reside in Portland and find the rural area a reminder of growing up in a small town in Illinois. While this area is no Silicone Valley, I have managed to find such technical positions as Webmaster for Ivy Tech Community College and Computer Manager for a small computer repair store.

The Present

As of right now, I am working as a full time freelance web developer and computer consultant. I work in my newly created and fashioned home office and I must say, I am enjoying it and learning many things about working for yourself.  I am working to build on my services and to create lasting relationships with current and future clients. I NOW focus my work on creating valid XHTML and CSS web layouts and prefer to work with the open source content management system, WordPress. I have worked with WordPress from its early versions and have continued to develop themes and plugins for the current version of WordPress 2.8 (the current version as of writing this).  I continue to learn and develop new skills and enjoy working with the web more than anything. I also offer PHP scripting and MySQL database services.

The Future

“The best thing about the future is that it comes only one day at a time.” – Abraham Lincoln.