Professional

Career History  |  Download Resume as PDF

A Bit About Jay's Professional Abilities


Introduction

In 2005, while teaching a Church Administration class, the instructor and C.O.O. of World Harvest Church, Don Corder, was explaining to the class the number 1 problem with hiring in America.  He was talking about the difference between "can do," "will do," and "want to do."

He said "you can teach a dog to climb a tree.  But as soon as you walk away, the dog is going to come down.  He can do it if you teach him, but unless you tell him to, he isn't going to climb a tree naturally on his own."  He continued, "The turnover rate of employees that have worked under me has always been low, because if the job is climbing a tree... give me a squirrel.  That's what I want to hire."

I was sitting in the front of that class, and Mr. Corder used me as an example to illustrate his point.  He said "Jay has been in the college here for an entire year.  We just found out that when he's sitting at home at night, he makes web pages and develops complex web applications.  I said, 'hire him,' because we'll just be paying him to do what he already loves doing.  We won't need to force him to stay up on new technology -- his own interest has hard-wired him to learn.  When it comes to Jay's job, he's a squirrel."

Nothing could have been more true.  I love my management and my Pastor, and truly believe in the mission of the church.  But the truth is, I also absolutely love what I do.

I am a skilled technology developer with roughly 12 years total experience in developing online applications.  The last 7 of those years, I have served as the Senior Web Developer for World Harvest Church in Columbus, OH, under Pastor Rod Parsley.


Development / Programming

In January of 2009, I earned a 952/1000 on the Developing and Implimenting Web Applications using Microsoft Visual C# .NET and Microsoft Visual Studio .NET exam, administered by Microsoft, and became a Microsoft Certified Professional.  That same month, my development skills in Visual C# were rated in the top 17% of the United States, and the top 23% of the world by Robert Half Technology.

I am most experienced in the following areas:
  • C# (1.0 - 4.0) (using Visual Studio .NET, 2005, 2008, and 2010)
  • JavaScript for Modern Browsers
  • HTML, DHTML, XHTML, XML
  • SQL Server 2000, 2005 & 2008 (T-SQL) (using SQL Server 2000 Enterprise Manager / Query Analyzer / Data Transformation Services and SQL 2005 / 2008 Management Studio)
  • Visual Basic .NET (1.0 - 4.0) (using Visual Studio .NET, 2005, 2008, and 2010)
  • Visual Basic 6.0
  • VB Script
  • Visual SourceSafe (Source Control Software)
I also have a good amount of experience in the following areas:
  • Android App / Widget development
  • Java
  • PHP 4.x
  • MySQL 4.x
  • Subversion (SVN)
I have a small amount of experience in the following areas:
  • Adobe / Macromedia Flash
  • ActionScript
I am also experienced in Windows development, including class libraries (DLLs) and forms development, as well as web development in the above Microsoft based languages and environments.

I thoroughly enjoy working on other projects.  A buddy and I recently created an Android application, and I created a few extensions for Mozilla Firefox, one of which has over 50,000 daily users.  As of the writing of this page, the project that currently sees most of my extra time is Verizon Usage Monitor for Mozilla Firefox, which helps customers of Verizon easily keep track of their minutes and data usage.


Network Administration

I have additional experience in installing and maintaining a Microsoft Windows domain controller running Active Directory through Microsoft Windows 2000 Server, Microsoft Windows Server 2003, and Microsoft Windows Server 2008, along with Micrsoft Exchange Server 2003 and Microsoft Exchange Server 2007.

I helped to administrate a network as a volunteer technician for the Southwest-Licking School District.


Technical Services

I have a large amount of experience in servicing computers, ranging from correcting software / malware errors, to building entire systems from scratch.


Want to Work with Jay?

In 2010, I started a business to organize my professional services called Awaken Technologies, Ltd.  If you are interested in the professional services I am able to provide, contact me.

Work History

08/06/2010 - Present

Awaken Technologies, Ltd.
Columbus, OH

Owner


Awaken Technologies offers a wide variety of I.T. related services including web site and application design, architecture, and development, database design, computer repair, and networking installation, repair, and administration.

For more information about Awaken Technologies' services, see the website.


05/09/2005 - Present

World Harvest Church
4595 Gender Rd.
Canal Winchester, OH 43110

Director of Web Technologies
Web Technology

Currently, my responsibilities are primarily concerning the Internet presence of the ministry of Rod Parsley, and all online orders, registrations, or transactions that take place on the websites of the various ministries. This includes, but is not limited to: I help to manage and maintain Internet, technology, and development standards in regards to Internet development. I work with about 7 other individuals to control the Internet home of World Harvest Church and its affiliate ministries for our partners, donors, and friends. I help to maintain a streaming media presence including archives of the Breakthrough Television broadcasts and services of World Harvest Church available to stream on the Internet, dubbed World Harvest LIVE!, where you can join us in the tabernacle Sunday mornings for worship -- or even view the archived service through the week!

In 2007, I lead architecture and development on a project that revamped all online orders, registrations, transactions, product requests. Working along-side requirements from various other departments in the ministry, the project centralized them into a system that also, through its structure and business dynamics, prevented duplicate orders and transactions. The project also allowed all transaction and donation pages to be database driven in order for them to dynamically load, minimizing coding required from developers. In 2010, plans began to be laid to upgrade this order system with a second version, purposed to expand the functionality and capabilities of the current online order system.

In 2011, I lead development on a new version of the primary website, www.rodparsley.com, which was designed to be easier to navigate, support areas for a soon-in-coming social networking expansion, and to have built-in administration tools for management and web content moderators to modify the site -- via the site.

09/29/2004 - 05/30/2005

Circuit City
8655 Lyra Dr
Columbus, OH 43240

Product Specialist
Technology


As a Product Specialist, my primary responsibility was to assist customers find the products they needed as quickly and as efficiently as possible. In the technology department, I would help customers learn more about specific computers, digital still or video cameras, or any accessories for items in these categories. I also helped to service hardware brought in by our customers.

I worked at the store near Polaris Fashion Place in northern Columbus, OH.

05/15/2003 - 10/15/2003

Cedar Point
One Cedar Point Dr.
Sandusky, OH 44870

Games Auditor
Department of Games


As a Games Auditor, I would inspect change machines and refill them if needed, controlling the contents of the change machines and making sure all monies that were supposed to be present was. Part of the responsibility of this job was to find potential theft amongst in-park employees, to deter it as much as possible, but to provide evidence if needed for prosecution against individuals that did choose to steal from these machines

Cedar Point is seasonal employment only, and at the conclusion of that season, I opted not to continue my employment the following year.

07/22/2002 - 05/05/2003

Subway
35 W Broad St
Pataskala, OH 43062

Crew Member


I served the customers, kept the store clean, ran registers, managed myself most times, and was a primary store closer.