Wednesday, August 17, 2011

My Son, The Genius

In 1988, when my youngest son, Teller, was 17, he worked shoulder-to-shoulder with me to create a computer program that scored and generated reports for the Success Style Profile, a first-generation brain-based personality test I had created. He also did the work for the most recent version of that program, called MindFrames.

The program functioned perfectly. More importantly, I learned that we worked well together. The process of design, specification, coding, testing and debugging went smoothly. I thought of him as some kind of genius (and I still do). I was impressed with his skill, creativity, work ethic and commitment to quality.

Later, he attended Texas Tech University, majoring in computer science. But he was a self-taught programmer, and he discovered that he learned a lot more and a lot faster on his own. And he was unimpressed with some of his instructors. He eventually concluded that college was a waste of time for him. So he left Texas Tech to join my company, Performance Support Systems.

His first project was to write the program for 20/20 Insight, a breakthrough 360-degree feedback system. And the rest is history. He's been a part of our core team for over 20 years now.

His latest accomplishment is ProStar Coach, a totally new kind of online self-development system. It's been in use for over a year now, and together we're exploring new ways to expand its power.

I never foresaw that my sons would be so bright in the IT world. My other son is more of a systems guy, a Ph.D. working for a company in New York City. And I never expected that Teller and I would be so compatible as coworkers. But we are. So for me, work is fun, and life is good.

How did I ever get so lucky?

Post by Dennis E. Coates, Ph.D., Copyright 2011. Building Personal Strength .

No comments: