THE RICHARD HALE SHAW GROUP
Professional software developer Consulting, Mentoring and Training on: Microsoft .NET 3.5 and prior, C# 3.0 and prior, Visual Studio 2008 and prior, LINQ, WCF, WPF, VSTS, TFS, ASP.NET, Managed C++.
- With some excellent mentoring from my late friend, Ken Ashbaugh and my cousin, Bob Leder, I began my software career in 1982.
- In 1983, studying in the evenings, I taught myself the C Programming language.
- In 1990, with some help from my friends Bruce Eckel and Al Stevens, I taught myself Object-Oriented Programming with C++.
- In 1992, I taught myself programming in Borland C++ (with OWL) and Microsoft C++ with MFC.
- In 1993, I provided advice to Microsoft that contributed to the development of Visual C++.
- In 1994, I began to teach C++ and MFC Programming to software developers in a 2-3 day format.
- In 1997, I expanded my course to include COM programming, and established what became the 5-day COM BootCamp.
- In 2001, I taught myself .NET Programming and the C# Programming Language, and in 2002 began to teach these in the original .NET BootCamp.
- In 2004, I taught myself .NET 2.0 and C# 2.0, and in 2005 began to teach these in the .NET 2.0 BootCamp; at the same time I created a new course for developers who’d attended the .NET BootCamp, called the Advanced .NET Patterns and Practices BootCamp.
- In 2009, I began to program with .NET 4.0 and F#, and began to teach these that year.
- In 2010, I developed the first of a new line of seminars specifically focused on software developer psychology and helping them to grow and develop new skills and habits.
I’ve worked in a number of capacities in the industry:
- I wrote custom software for my family’s Life Insurance brokerage (1983-1986)
- I worked as a line software developer for firms in Michigan, ending up as employee #6 at Hilgraeve, Inc. in Monroe (I still consider John Hile the best boss in the business), (1986-1989)
- I’ve run the Richard Hale Shaw Group, a consulting and software developer training firm (1989-present)
- I was a Contributing Editor for PC Magazine and for what was then Microsoft Systems Journal (today known as MSDN Magazine), (1988-1996)
- I’ve given 1hr-2day talks, seminars, lectures and classes a number of developer conferences and technical User Groups, including: the Software Development Conference, VBITS, the MFC Conference, the Visual C++ Conference, the VSLive Conference (1990-present)
- I chaired a number of conference tracks and created a number of conferences for software developers, including: the Windows Programming Track at the Software Development Conference (Chair), the DevWeek Conference in London (Created); the Visual C++ Conference (Created with Simon Kelly, and Chaired); the C++ Track at VBITS (Chair); the C# Track at VSLive (Chair).
- I’ve founded or been instrumental in founding a number of technical User Groups, including: the Kentucky-Indiana PC User Group (KIPCUG), the Ann Arbor Computer Society (founded).
- I’ve given software development courses on-site for a number of clients in the United States, Canada, Sweden and Switzerland, including those listed here.
- I’ve given an on-going series of multi-day workshops for software developers at the Swedish offices of PC-Ware (formerly Linsoft and Ravenholm-Linsoft), (1999-present).
The Richard Hale Shaw Group provides services to professional software developers, including:
- Consulting (I can help you find the problems you can’t see)
- Mentoring (I can help you find solutions to problems)
- Training (I can teach your team what they need to know)
My areas of focus and expertise include:
- Microsoft .NET 2.0/3.5/4.0, C# 2.0/3.0/4.0, Visual Studio 2008/2010, LINQ, WCF, WPF
- Developer Psychology: habits, traits, patterns and practices.