Greg Salsman

My name is Greg Salsman and I'm a recovering software developer. I officially began my career in 1997 but 1995 if you include co-op while in college. I started programming in 1982 while in elementary school when my parents bought me a Radio Shack computer. I moved on the the Apple II and then to PC later on. After building banking software for a few years I got into website development using Visual Studio and .NET. I then got the opportunity to learn Java and coded in that for a number of years. In 2001 I got the opportunity to work with a small group of about 15-20 people on a new initiative and worked in what is now called an Agile environment although I hadn't recognized this at the time. In retrospect this was one of the most enjoyable moments in my career. Once this team disbanded I transitioned into team leadership and management and struggled with some of the challenges related to the waterfall and command and control era of software development. In late 2012 I was exposed to the "new" way of doing things, Agile, and was immediately hooked. It brought me back to my years with my team in 2001 and opened my eyes to a better way to organize teams. I've been a Scrum Master, Agile team Lead, Agile Coach or whatever label you want to give since late 2013 and I look forward to learning and improving in this direction for the rest of my career.