Practical Software Construction, LLC 
That's me 40 years ago at Xerox sitting at an IBM 360 terminal. Please see new History tab for an extended narrative of my career and how I got there.
Without Computer Science my life would have been vastly different. I probably would have remained a blue-collar worker given that I had a knack for fixing real world machines. There's nothing to be ashamed of being a good wrench-jockey/electrician, but I never would have embarked on the vast mental landscape that eventually led me to a PhD in Computer Science majoring in Systems (OS and networking) and minoring In Artificial Intelligence. That journey was very exciting and the work was extremely rewarding. I achieved three patents while at Xerox that are key components in rapid image processing to this day. Best of all I met and learned from incredibly brilliant co-workers. They nurtured my intellectual development, and without their help I would never have achieved my career success.
Software Development – Generating Code per a Documented Design or Proposed Prototype
Solutions Architecture – Designing and Documenting Multi-Component Systems & Integrations
Software Development Lifecycle and Artifacts – Requirements, Design, & Test
Reference Architecture – Design Patterns & Standards
Technology Innovation – Adapting Current Trends to the IT Landscape
Teamwork – Working with Project Teams & Vendors, Shepherding Contract Developers
Technology Portfolio Management – Rationalization, SOA
Architectural Governance & Road Mapping – Breaking the Silos, Planning the Future
Business Capability Mapping – Aligning IT to Business
Communicating Upward – Presentation Skills
Regulated Systems – Qualification, Validation, 21 CFR Part 11
Languages: C, C++, C#, Java, JavaScript, JQuery, Various Assembler
Operating Systems: MS Windows, Linux, Solaris(Unix)
Web Servers: Tomcat, IIS, Apache, Websphere
Virtual Machines: JRE, .NET, VMWare, Cloud(EC2)
Web Application Frameworks: Java JSP & Servlets, ASP.NET, ASP.NET MVC, Websphere
Web Services: SOAP/HTTP, REST, XML/HTTP
Databases: MS SQL Server, Oracle, MySQL
Network Protocols: 802.11, HDLC, UDP, TCP/IP, Sockets, Sensor Net Protocols
Security Protocols: AD/LDAP, Kerberos, HTTP Basic, PKI, Siteminder, SAML
Software Development Methodologies: RUP, Agile, Waterfall
Documentation: UML, ER Diagrams, Design Specs, Academic Publications
Device Drivers: Linux, Windows, Solaris
High Availability & DR: Clustering, Load Balancing, Replication
Big Data: IBM Content Analytics, Hadoop, HBase, GemFire
ETL & Data Virtualization: Informatica
Software Configuration: CVS, Sun Code Manager, SCCS
Development Utilities: SOAP UI, XML Spy, Toad, SQL Server Management Studio
Enterprise Service Bus: Various EAI Frameworks, BizTalk
EA/DB Tools: Sparx Enterprise Architect, Embarcadero ER Studio, MySQL Workbench
I worked for Xerox for 30 years in their heyday, when they invented the personal computer, the mouse, Ethernet, the graphical user interface, the laser printer, bit-map graphics, the MVC design pattern, and lots of other goodies that were ahead of their time. The government in it's infinite wisdom decided that Xerox was a monopoly and should sell off it's patents to it's competitors, which were primarily Asian companies; thus triggering the demise of a great American Engineering company. Today, sadly, Xerox is primarily a back-office outsourcing company, devoid of engineering. I began my software career with Xerox fixing bugs in assembler code and then graduated to developing applications for laser printers in assembler. I graduated to writing networking stacks, device drivers, and image processing code in C and C++. I led an OS Validation Task force from the technical side to select an operating system to replace the venerable Digital PDP-11 Kernel (with Solaris). I worked with PARC (Palo Alto Research Center) to create a working Solaris POC that became the replacement platform for all high-end printer line control software.I migrated numerous image processing algorithms (Scaling, JPEG, CST, GZIP) to firmware for acceleration. I achieved three patents related to image processing and concurrency in the Kernel. I finished up my career as a technical lead and solutions architect mentoring new hires.
After I retired from Xerox I was Recruited as a Solutions Architect embedded in large projects; responsible for technology/vendor selection, key design decisions, project design artifacts, and shepherding of tech leads and developers. Promoted to Principal Enterprise Architect with added responsibility for reference architecture, application portfolio management, road-mapping, and architectural governance. During my tenure at Amgen I wrote over 30 design specs and oversaw hundreds of millions of dollars in projects as the project architect. Sample projects were: Transition from ARIS-G to Oracle Argus Safety, which included twenty new interfaces and a new HA/DR design; Maximo Upgrade which involved adding 22 new interfaces to automate the transfer of transactional data via real-time messaging and master data via batch ETL with both in-house and cloud-based systems.
BARD: Bayesian-Assisted Resource Discovery In Sensor Networks. INFOCOM, Miami, March 2005.
RMST: Reliable Data Transport in Sensor Networks. IEEE International, Alaska, May 2003.
RBP: Robust Broadcast Propagation in Wireless Networks. ACM SenSys, Boulder, November 2006.
Privacy Sensitive Monitoring With a Mix of IR Sensors and Cameras. , ACM SenSys, Boston 2004.