About Me

Hello. I'm Evan. Welcome to my virtual life.



I was born and raised in northern California but I moved to Los Angeles to attend the University of Southern California. I enrolled in 1992 and graduated with a Business (Management Information Systems) degree in 1996. After that, I lived up north for a 6 month training program with Oracle and then I moved to Troy, Michigan for a year. I came back to LA in 1998 and then moved to South Orange County in 1999. I'm finally settled in a small city (Aliso Viejo) and I'm very happy here.

I enjoy what I do for a living and I'd probably do something similar if I didn't have to work. I like to make things and it doesn't matter if it's websites, software, wood working, or even food. I also enjoy tinkering around with things too, especially electronics. Maybe it's just the Japanese blood in me that likes all things electronics and wants everything to be perfect.

About the Site

This site is really just a place where I can put my loose collection of virtual things. I've started and worked on a few sites but I'm trying to consolidate as many of them as possible. And, it also gives me a great place to work on new projects since this web host supports .Net for my new projects while still supporting PHP for my old projects.

As for the site look, I'm not a graphic designer but I know what I like. I'll be the first to admit that I "borrowed" elements from a lot of other sites. I apologize in advance to the designers out there. I really respect their work and creativity and wish I was able to do that sort of work. I just have enough coding and Photoshop proficiency to reverse engineer sites I like and rearrange them for my needs.

My Professional Life

I work as an applications developer for Quest Software where I work on a custom made HR application. I've found an unusual niche with .Net on Oracle development and I took a roundabout way to get where I am today.

I started my career as a sales consultant for Oracle. I was extremely fortunate to be chosen for a new program where they hired people right out of college and put us through a six month training program. I spent the next three years traveling around the country and giving presentations and showing product demonstrations to hundreds of people.

I left Oracle to take a chance with an internet company in 1999. I was the 6th person hired and the first outside of their initial circle. It was a great experience since I was very involved with everything related to the hardware, software, and business.

When the internet company ran out of funding, I took a job with Pacific Life Insurance. This was my first work experience outside of a tech company and I was on the consumer side of things for the first time. It was a very different experience for me but I learned about a different side of life there. Mostly, I learned to appreciate what I had before and after.

I'm now at Quest Software and I'm very fortunate to be here. I've used TOAD before it was even a Quest product and I remember seeing Quest's booths at Oracle's OpenWorld and Microsoft's TechEd. I remember thinking that of all the tech companies there, I'd pick Quest as the one I'd want to work for. I somehow got a call for an interview and ended up buying a place less than a mile away by chance, so things really worked out for me.