About Me

A Brief History
My name is Jason Hutchinson, and for as long as I can remember I've had a vested interest in computers and technology. At 12 years old I managed to get my hands on a dinosaur of a PC that my uncle no longer needed and used it to learn QuickBasic. A few years later I started honing my skills on a TI-83 graphing calculator, using its TI-BASIC programming language. In the summer of 1999 my local ISP (Olemac.net) began offering free web space to its customers giving me the opportunity to learn HTML, and later (X)HTML/CSS. Since then web design & development as been my niche, though I've still tried to keep up with application development somewhat.

Being the first in the area to set up a web site through Olemac caught the attention of the company's Vice President, and before long I was working as the company's webmaster and on-site technician. I spent a while going from house to house, diagnosing and fixing customers' internet-related computer issues. After a time it became apparent that many of the customers' issues were caused by faulty settings, a result of the customer not setting their internet up properly in the first place. I was set to the task of creating a program that could set up the customer's internet account automatically, as well as diagnose and fix many common internet settings problems. The program's success decreased the amount of customer service calls dramatically, effectively eliminating the need for me as an on-site technician. With the decreased work load I was able to pursue my web design career and soon gained a position at Elk River Computers, where I have since worked as a web developer.

School
In late June 2003 I began the Computer Programming course at Vatterott College. I graduated twice, once for the basic certifications course and then again in March 2005 for the advanced course, earning an Associate of Occupational Studies degree for Computer Programming and Web Development with a final GPA of 3.97. While at Vatterott I also pursued other certifications both inside and outside of the classroom.