Introduction - John McDonough

[John J. McDonough]

My name is John McDonough and I am a retired computer professional living in 
Midland, Michigan.  I write ocasionally, have an online tutorial on PIC 
microcontrollers, the occasional amateur radio magazine article, and even a 
Six Sigma article.  I have used Fedora since FC1, although I don't always 
keep up with every release.

I feel a certain obligation to contribute, but although I program from time 
to time I can't really see myself being able to commit the time nor 
intensity needed to develop.  However, I believe I have a better than 
average command of the English language, and when first Paul Frields and 
then Karsten Wade mentioned the need for beat writers, it seemed to me that 
this might be a way I could give something back.

Looking at the list of open slots, it seems as if I could add something in 
the gcc arena or possibly Development Tools.  I use gcc regularly, mostly C 
or C++, but I'm not above writing the occasional line of Fortran or Ada.  At 
this point, though, it isn't entirely clear how a writer learns what is 
going on for subjects that don't have a PoC.  Wade through subversion 
comments maybe?

Hmmm ... the SelfIntroduction page says you might want to know more about 
me.  Well, although I programmed for many moons, my real interest has been 
the software process.  After retiring I did a little consulting on Six Sigma 
as applied to software development at some very large firms on three 
continents.  Prior to retiring my role was to provide the technical guidance 
on large (>1MM USD) software projects.  I was (thankfully) insulated from 
many of the administrative burdens, although I did play a major role in our 
software process.

On the personal side, I am an amateur radio operator, in fact, Radio Officer 
for the state of Michigan, which means I spend a lot of time with the state 
police.  I like grody technical stuff, build radios, play with 
microcontrollers, all that geeky stuff.  Still, if one looks at my history, 
both at work and at play, the people skills are not entirely absent.

With David Nalley's help I got signed up to FAS, did the CLA thing, now it 
looks like I have a heck of a lot to read!

--McD