MARC FOUNTAIN

Full-stack Developer, Systems Analyst

Encompass Solutions

Encompass is an ERP consulting firm serving the Supply Chain Management space. I was brought in to analyze the sourcecode of their recent acquisition -- EnTrust EDI software -- which automates B2B document exchanges between manufacturers' ERP platforms and those of their customers, suppliers and warehouses. In the process of mapping 1800+ SQL & C# components and their interconnections, I identified and reported hundreds of coding issues ranging from cosmetic to showstopper, proposing how best to fix/optimize each. To empower my fellow coders, I built developer-sandbox virtual machines preloaded with Visual Studio, SQL Server, IIS Server, Epicor Kinetic ERP server & client, inforVisual ERP server & client, etc., with the bonus that each VM can be quickly reset to pristine condition at the start of each test/code/test cycle.

Listingbook

Listingbook is a competitor of Zillow, founded by Bob Milman in Winston-Salem to serve Triad real estate agents and their buyers & sellers. As it grew into other markets including New York, Detroit, and California, I translated management wishes into design plans which accountants could then sanity check before developers began reworking the existing code. Nonsensitive examples of my design documents include ListingbookPreferredProviderRework.pdf and listingbook.html.

Davidson County Water

Davidson County Water utility company in Welcome, NC, contracted me to deliver two web-based programming projects. The first allowed customers to pay their water bills online. For this project, I wrote server-side ASP code to query the company's AS/400 as if it were a SQL server, then build and send HTML to the customer's browser window. The second project was a wholly separate website serving the company's many remote field engineers. Again using ASP and SQL, I created a minimalist website (page size 14 chars wide by 5 lines tall) for access through the cellular handhelds then in use. Field engineers could regularly call up their to-do lists, search for the task nearest their current location, and make the most effective use of their work day. Upon completion of a task, they would send results back through the website which my ASP code would then use to update tables on the AS/400. See davidsoncountywater.html for a sample of my code.

Konica Minolta

The Konica Minolta photographic paper factory in Whitsett, NC, contracted me to design and code several in-house production projects. I created a compiled VB executable which drove the building's robot crane, both by interfacing via SQL with the plant's AS/400 and via character set translation to directly address the mechanism. Management considered it vital that this new interface strongly resemble its non-Windows predecessor, hence the F1/F2/etc. and Courier white-on-black text. I wrote another compiled VB app to calculate scaled-up amounts and proportions for the chemistry Konica would spray onto the paper, not one byte of which ever left the building due to its highly proprietary nature (company secrets). A third compiled VB app already existed for performing quality control testing after the chemistry had been applied and dried... but the program was from the home office. The North Carolina factory had been sent a copy of the source code, which someone had already translated from Japanese to English... sort of. I completed the translation into clear English and rearranged/rebuilt many parts of the graphical user interface so that, for example, the CONTINUE button would be placed in the lower right where North Americans expect to find such things.

Technical Writer, Website Content & Coding

Software Documentation

As the technical writer and graphic designer for Worldgroup interactive web software, I created over 3000 pages of documentation ranging from brochures to 700-page softbound manuals. I wrote the text, created graphics using CorelDRAW and various raster apps, performed all layout and typesetting, exported to PostScript and coordinated with several service bureaus to repeatedly deliver my part of the team effort ahead of schedule and under budget.

ComputerTree

ComputerTree was an Apple Specialist with offices in Winston-Salem and Atlanta. When they contracted me to create their website, the first question I asked upper management was, "Who are your customers?" It quickly became clear that they delivered four distinct services: individual sales, training, repairs, and enterprise solutions. I created their website based on that four-way framework, and maintained it until ComputerTree was acquired by a London firm. Web.archive.org took a (mostly) faithful snapshot of computertree.com as it existed prior to the change. While at ComputerTree, I earned my ACMT (Apple Certified Macintosh Technician) and performed repair work on MacBook Pro, MacBook Air, iMac, etc. I'm equally comfortable working on Windows or Linux hardware.

Piedmont Flight Training

Located on the tarmac at Winston-Salem's Smith Reynolds Airport, Piedmont Flight Training provides instruction at all levels from initial discovery flight to Airline Transport Pilot. While I was earning my pilot certification, I created the school's website. Piedmont Flight Training was sold in early 2020 and the new owners are constructing their own website, but my work survives thanks to the Wayback Machine. As with ComputerTree, I wrote most of the narrative text in addition to creating the graphics and html. I also created the PIEDMONT FLIGHT SCHOOL ENTRANCE supporting logo, which was first used on a large physical sign after the school's founders discovered a daunting security fence being installed in front of their main entrance. I advised D.O.T. white-on-green because it conveys the immediate message that you're where you're supposed to be, in sharp contrast to the "you may be shot" yellow-on-black preferred by the TSA. I then repeated that welcoming green logo on the website and on paper postcard mailings.

Author

Books

Coats of Arms: An Introduction to The Science and Art of Heraldry is a full-color quick start guide to the history of a craft nine centuries in the making.

The Most Noble Choice is a completed MG contemporary novel. Tommy, new to public junior high, struggles to avoid a bully until he can discover what's driving him. Meanwhile, a teacher works behind the scenes to save them both. Dead Poets Society with a happy ending.

Flight For Freedom is a YA contemporary manuscript in progress. A modern day Heidi becomes a commercial pilot so she can someday fly herself home to the mountains of northwest Spain.

Articles

While living in South Florida, I befriended an antiques dealer. How Treasures Become Lost, my account of one of her adventures, was published in Treasure Cache/Treasure Facts (Lost Treasure Magazine) under the pen name Marc Starr.

My appraisal of the North Carolina Writers' Network's 2016 Spring Conference in Greensboro was published in the Fall 2016 issue of Writers' Network News.

My creative nonfiction article Chunnel was published in Issue No.13 of Rose Red Review.

Murder We Write

Past President of the North Carolina Triad chapter of novelist organization Sisters in Crime. Now merged with the NC Triangle chapter, SinC's mission is to support and educate writers of all genres, nonfiction as well as fiction, providing advice on both the craft of writing and the business of publishing. During my tenure, I also created and maintained MurderWeWrite.org to serve existing members while promoting our organization to prospective members.

Professional Organizations

I have been a member of Sisters in Crime (SinC) since 2015 and of the Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators (SCBWI) since 2016, assisting both organizations in whatever way I can be of use, including audiovisual I.T. support, website content and proofreading.

Offline Works

In addition to the works listed above, I've written proprietary documentation and application sourcecode for National Computer Solutions, Netleader, Internet Billing Company, Pike Electric and a dozen other satisfied customers. I've worked on projects as varied as hotel point of sale software, Sarbanes/Oxley accounting compliance, online card payment, and field engineer component-part graphic documentation.