Troy E. Foster

Goals/Aspirations

Troy is looking for a position which affords him an opportunity to learn and practice the process of software development.  He would like to work under and be mentored by current software engineers and managers in somewhat structured development environments.  As with many things, the rules and structures must be known before one can know how to successfully shorten the process or bend the rules.  Troy does not want to completely leave the realm of programming, but the higher levels of design are of more interest to him.  He is a natural leader and would enjoy a position of management once he has the tools necessary to be successful.

Troy would like to eventually run his own software company, but only if a healthy opportunity presents itself.  He enjoys the hands-on aspects of business as well as the logical aspects of creating software.

Hobbies/Interests

Troy has a number of interests that consume his time.  The most important part of his life is his family.  His wife Amy and his daughter Emma provide great joy and a terrific focus outside of work.  Additionally, Troy enjoys cycling both on the road and off as well as many other outdoor endeavors.  He is a big fan of the mountains, but also wants to someday learn to surf.  Troy's mind is always busy with business ideas as well as ideas for software.  One idea that has been cooking for about a year now is a tool to analyze the financial markets.  Implementation has not yet begun as it is still just an idea running around in his head, but he does keep learning more about how it can be implemented and ways to improve the design in his head.  To give an idea of the direction it is going, he calls the concept regression mining.

Post-graduate/Professional Years

As a full-time employee at Milsoft Utility Solutions, Troy became an important part of the database services department as well as performing other database tasks for other departments.  He quickly became responsible for the maintenance and modification of several existing software tools as well as for the management of source code for the database department as a whole.  He also began the redesign and implementation of a new, large software tool to convert from an AutoCAD map of discrete elements to a Milsoft standard model with related elements.  He led a group of two other programmers in the production process of this new tool.

While the production work Troy was doing for Milsoft was at times challenging and enjoyable, it was more often becoming monotonous.  After nine months, Troy decided to return to school to earn his master's degree in software engineering from the local campus of the Texas Tech engineering school.  Troy began taking nine hours per semester in the evenings and during lunch breaks to work towards his master's degree.  His hard work is paying off as he is expecting to earn his Master's degree in December of 2003.

In early 2003, the Milsoft executives decided the company needed a new system for managing clients and company activities.  They had in mind a web-based system to which employees could have access anytime, anywhere they had internet access.  They decided to assign the production of this system to Troy, who gladly accepted the change in direction.  Troy was given the opportunity to design and implement, from the ground up, this information system using whatever tools and technologies he deemed useful and necessary.  Troy quickly began working on this project, but still had strong ties to the database department.  He is still involved in the development of the AutoCAD conversion tool, often very directly, and still performs database conversions on a regular basis when needed to meet deadlines.

Undergraduate Years

Troy started his undergraduate education at Abilene Christian University as a mathematics major, but eventually lost interest in this course of study.  Seeking activities which were more hands on, he ventured into art and even business before deciding to pursue interests outside of academia.  Working in bicycle shops and traveling to new places, Troy exercised his hands and his sales and communication skills during this time before deciding to return to finish his undergraduate degree.  Upon making this decision, he had also decided to finish by studying computer science.  For Troy, the logic of programming a computer and designing software was complex enough to satisfy his mind while being practical enough to satisfy his desire to create.  Upon returning to school, he got on the fast track to finish his coursework in one and a half calendar years, finally earning his degree in December of 2001.

During his last semester in undergraduate school, Troy began working for Milsoft Utility Services in the database services department.  His job was to perform database conversions from client database and mapping systems into the Milsoft formats so that the clients could use Milsoft software solutions on their own systems.  At first he was debugging, modifying and customizing existing software to work with specific client data, but before long he was also writing new solutions for new problems being faced.  The projects given to Troy typically had tight deadlines and high quality standards with a scope ranging from a two hour deadline to two months.  Troy quickly gained a reputation for reliability and accuracy, which in turn brought more work his way.  Upon graduating from school, Troy was offered and accepted a full-time position in the same department.   

Pre-College Years

Troy was born in Wilmington, Delaware and spent most of his formative years in the Delaware Valley of northern Delaware and southeastern Pennsylvania.  His father an engineer for DuPont and his mother a middle school math teacher, Troy developed strong analytical skills from an early age.  When he went into the ninth grade, Troy earned an academic scholarship and began attending Sanford School, a prominent east coast college preparatory day school.  Troy enjoyed the competitive academics as well as the freedom of thought that was so strongly advocated.  While at Sanford, Troy was a cross-country team captain, a key club member, a math league member, as well as a participant in various other extracurricular science, service, and literary activities and competitions.  Troy graduated in 1994 near the top of his class and headed to Abilene Christian University.