Bob’s Page

As my résumé shows, I have been a software developer professionally for years.

---

My first professional programming job was at GTECH Corporation in West Greenwich, RI. GTECH provided lottery services to governments throughout the United States and abroad.

I started there as an embedded developer, writing software for point–of–sale on–line lottery terminals (the machines that print lottery tickets). Over the years, I worked on software for a number of different systems (other embedded devices and accessories, DOS, Windows, Unix, even some firmware and mainframe work), but I never stopped working on lottery terminals.

When my wife took a job in Maine in 1995, I thought I’d have to find a new job. My boss thought otherwise! He allowed me to work remotely, which I continued to do in one fashion or another until 2002. At that point, policy changed and all software positions were moved to Texas. Since we were settling in nicely in Winthrop and had two young children in school, we decided to remain in Winthrop and I left the company.

It was at GTECH that I first started working with relational databases. As often happened, they had a technical need, and I accepted the challenge. The Tri–State Lottery had just installed GTECH’s Lottery Mail Subscription System, which ran on a SyBase RDBMS. Because I was already in Maine, where the Tri–State Lottery data center was located, I was asked to take over support for the system.

---

After leaving GTECH, I spent my time doing contract work and going back to school. In 2005, I took a contract with the Maine Department of Environmental Protection to create a program to assist the Bureau of Land and Water in their efforts to maintain the quality of the state’s rivers. While there, a full–time position opened up, and I became a DEP employee.

In 2007, the state created the Office of Information Technology as a central administrative division for all IT staff. I’ve been working for OIT ever since, still primarily supporting the DEP. In 2012, we moved from our offices in the DEP’s building to co–locate with the other OIT staff.

While working for the State of Maine, I have primarily been an Oracle PL/SQL and Forms developer. However, as happened at GTECH, I have worked in other technologies as needed. It’s hard to believe I’ve been doing this for years now. I currently anticipate retiring in days.

---

My other career, prior to becoming a developer, was as a Machinist’s Mate in the United States Navy for three years. I served the last two of those years aboard the U.S.S. Claude V. Ricketts (DDG–5), an Adams–class Guided–Missile Destoyer, where I primarily worked in the forward engine room, maintaining and operating the ship’s starboard engine, two of the four generators, and many other mechanical systems.

My service was ended abruptly in 1986 when I received a medical discharge after being permanently injured. Luckily, through the “Vocational Rehabilitation” program provided by the VA (now DVA), I was able to go to college to be retrained, since I could no longer physically do the work I had been trained to do.

---

Some other jobs I’ve done over the years:

• Catering Company Kitchen Staff, Taunton, MA
• Beverage Machine Repair Technician, Stoughton, MA
• Injection Molding Machine Operator, Taunton, MA
• Janitorial Staff, Seekonk, MA

I have been married for years to the same wonderful woman, Linda. She was already a programmer for GTECH when I started working there in 1991 and we took an immediate dislike to each other. Luckily, that didn’t last long, and we were married fourteen months later.

We moved to Maine in 1995, first to an apartment in Westbrook, then to the house in Winthrop where we’ve lived for the past years. (Well, sort of. The house and garage changed in 2019, but we still live at the same location.)

Together, we have two awesome children, Teresa, , and Phillip, .

One interesting fact about my wife and I  —  when we met, we’d both seen penguins “in the wild’. She saw some during her visit to Australia (supporting one of the Australian state lotteries for GTECH). I saw some while going through the Strait of Magellan as part of a Naval tour of duty circumnavigating South America in 1985.

Some of the places I’ve lived:

• Providence, RI (born there)
• Taunton, MA (two addresses)
• Warwick, RI (two addresses)
• Westbrook, ME
• Winthrop, ME (where I live now)

While going to Westfield State College (now University), I lived in Westfield, MA.

While in the Navy, I was stationed at various bases:

• Naval Station Great Lakes, Great Lakes, IL (boot camp and ‘A’ school)
• Orlando Naval Training Command, Orlando, FL (more school)
• Norfolk Naval Base, Norfolk, VA (active duty)

While in the Navy aboard the U.S.S. Claude V. Ricketts (DDG–5), we visited a number of countries and islands, including:

Puerto Rico		Saint Thomas, USVI		Barbados
Panama		Venezuela		Colombia
Chilé		Argentina		Brazil
		Uruguay

While working for GTECH Corporation, I had opportunties to travel throughout the United States supporting software deployments. Some of the states I visited:

Arizona		Missouri		Kansas
Indiana		Georgia		New York
Maine (before I moved here)

Here are some other pages, on this site and elsewhere, where you can find out more information about me.

• My On–line Résumé, with some of my professional history.
• My LinkedIn Profile

• My Student Profile Page

  years back (2006), the head of the UMA CIS program requested biographical profiles from some of the students enrolled in the program. This is mine.