Mark Palmer
Chief Technology Officer
YouthStream.com

1. What was your first job out of college?

Working at Digital Equipment Corporation (isn't it scary that someone reading this may NOT know who DEC is?). At DEC I developed three-dimensional Electronic CAD chip design tools for the VAX 9000, DEC's first entry in the mainframe computer market a few years after the mainframe industry was dead :-) It was a great job, because I worked with the very first C++ compiler ever made, CFRONT 1.0, and learned to handle the challenge of programming without documentation. The other reason it was a great job was because I learned two of the three key dimensions in software architecture: GUIs and middleware.

My next job, with Object Design, (now Excelon Corporation), taught me databases. It's critical for technologists to understand GUI, middleware, AND database technologies thoroughly.

The final reason it was a great job is because I met my wife there.

2. What's the trick to evaluating technical capabilities?

Look for technologists who have shipped production applications. I don't care if a technologist can recite the OLE DB API by heart, if they don't have a focus on delivering a solution, something that works and provides value, then they aren't real technologists to me.

3. What is the biggest myth about "techies"?

That "techies" only care about bits and bytes. The best "techies" are fanatical about creating stuff that helps people and enables new possibilities. We are in the midst of a technological revolution - and "techies" are the catalysts of that revolution. So remember, the dork sitting next to you on the train may be the next Henry Ford of our time!