My name is Sheridan Bulger, and I love life. My only real problem is that there’s not enough time in the day for all of the interesting hobbies, events & activities that life has to offer. As of starting this site (January 2019) I’ve never been one to speak outwardly about myself, so we’ll see how this project goes. I’ve always meant to keep some type of journal, though. I may never post in this or I could post weekly for the rest of my life. It’s all up in the air at this point.
I’m someone who has a ton of hobbies. I love the outdoors and am an avid hiker. I also love to tinker and tend to work on my own cars or home projects rather than hire professionals — for better or for worse as it sometimes ends up. I write creative literature, I do computer art — 3D modeling and 2D graphic design, I love video games, but much of my free time that isn’t eaten up by my fiancée, Sarah, is spent programming on a variety of projects.
At work, Deacom, I’m Director of Software & Services, which is essentially our core operations. What this means is, 90% of what we do rolls up to me. I’m responsible for ensuring we have marketable services — the ERP product being one of them, that we can onboard new customers onto our services, and that we retain happy customers once they’ve gone what we refer to as “live.” I love my job and there’s not much that I would change in that regard. What’s most funny to me is that it’s simply a spot I never expected to find myself in. Believe it or not, ERP software is not the industry that every young child aspires for their career to blossom in.
I first started toying with computers at a young age. By the time I was eight, I already had several websites hosted on free hosts such as Geocities. The sites were not impressive technologically or content-wise — flashing email GIFs were aplenty — however, they helped me learn HTML and CSS. Had I know that adult me would look back on how my Zelda and Dragon Ball Z themed sites would influence my life so greatly… Flash forward three years. By this point I had the realization that if I could make web pages, what’s to hold me back from making what I really loved on computers — video games. I love video games to this day, but I feel as though I had the luxury of growing up at just the right time for gaming. Today there are too many choices and it’s hard to get invested in a game — kind of like how hard it is to pick from a menu that is too large at a restaurant. Back then, my time was dominated by classics such as: Super Mario RPG, Zelda: Ocarina of Time, Ultima Online, Planetside, and oh so many other lovely experiences.
So I have a computer, I can make a game , right? The first thing that I did was right click on the executable for Grand Theft Auto III and open it in notepad., because that’s how you see what’s inside of things on a computer, right? What I was presented with, the raw bytes of the executable, resembled hieroglyphics to me. At the time, I assumed this was what I would need to write. Luckily, a lovely forum called gamedev.net sorted that out for me — even if the denizens were nice enough to call me a ‘n00b’ along the way. Over the next several years I learned several technologies. I wrote operating systems in x86 assembly, built game engines around the OGRE rendering engine, build content management systems in PHP. When my time wasn’t dominated by first person shooters and World of Warcraft, teenage me programmed and tried to learn every bit about every technology that existed. The (totally achievable) goal? Start my own company right out of high school.
What really happened was that I moved to Indiana to live with my father, which was great for me in the grand scheme of things. In the short term, I fell in with a crowd that liked to have a lot of fun and before you knew it I was a year out of high school working at a restaurant and essentially headed nowhere. Sparing the details, I ended up revitalizing my technological knowledge and landed at a version of Deacom that had only fourteen employees after moving to the Philly area. Since then, I’ve had the opportunity to participate in almost a decade of business growth. At the time of writing this we are ~140 employees. I’m a much more diverse person from a skills standpoint due to this circumstance. I have experience in execution, tactical, and strategic roles. I know how to hire and develop employees, I know how to smooth over a tense situation with a customer, and I know how to develop a strongly marketable product. While I’m not the CEO, I love Deacom and I intend to be here for the long run.
So what can you expect to read here? Part of me would rather ask you why you want to read it. This project is more of a diary for me than anything else. If you’re going to read it, however, you can expect to find a wide array of topics. Some of what I write may sound like a Deacom sales pitch, and I’ll apologize in advanced for that. That’s what happens when you believe in and feel good about your day-to-day. Most of this, however, will just be random thoughts on random whateverness, and if that’s what you like to read then I appreciate you taking the time. If it’s not your cup of tea, no hard feelings, I completely understand!
Thanks,
Sheridan Bulger