Professional Questions

When Can I Call You?

Assuming that I am looking for work, the best time to call depends largely whether I am between assignments or working on an assignment.

I am currently employed and not looking for further employment.

Between Assignments

If I am between assignments the best time to call is between 10 AM and 5 PM CST on weekdays.

During Assignments

I usually start looking for my next assignment a month before my current contract is completed.   When I am employed, please do not call me during regular business hours except on urgent business or emergencies.   It is not fair to my employer for me to search for further employment on his time.

In General

In most situations, the best way to reach me is by email.   If you need to reach me about an employment opportunity please use my email form at http://www.boutonjones.com/pub/email.cfm, through my account on LinkedIn at http://www.linkedin.com/in/boutonjones, or one of the job boards where I have a profile.   If it's necessary to speak to me during business hours, we can schedule a time during my lunch break.

Always include your email address so that I can write you directly and attach my resume.

If you must call and leave a voice message, please follow up with an email as well.   And please make sure your voice message is audible and clear so that I can fully understand the message and reply back.   In the past recruiters who are calling from great distances have left inaudible messages.   I can't call you back if I don't understand the message you left.

To illustrate: I know that Bouton is an unusual name.   When I introduce myself or answer the phone, I make an effort to pronounce it clearly and distinctly.   It's an exotic name to most people so I make an effort in enunciating it.   If someone has trouble with my name, I repeat it again --- slowly.   Sometimes I spell it out loud.

If your name is similarly exotic to my ears, please excuse my ignorance and be sure to enunciate it for my benefit.   Names are very important and I want to get yours right.

Would I be Interested in Relocating?

I would consider any position for which I'm qualified depending on the position, compensation, location, and duration.

My base of operation and my home is in San Antonio, TX.   But I have studied, lived, and worked in Austin, TX for many years.   I've worked on four contracts in Austin while maintaining residency in San Antonio.   I've also lived and worked outside Texas.   I moved to Kentucky for a contract for three years.

I am looking at short term contracts (i.e. less than 12 month), long-term employment (i.e. 12 months or longer), and permanent employment.   For long term commitments --- with a few exceptions --- I am looking closer to home than I would be for short term contracts.   (e.g. I'm more inclined to accept a direct hire opportunity in Austin or San Antonio, TX or a short term contract elsewhere.)

At the present time, I wish to stay close to my family in the San Antonio / Austin, TX area.   However, for short term projects I would like to see other parts of the USA and the world.   In particular, I would be intrigued by

• Austin, TX
• Dallas, TX
• Houston, TX
• Phoenix, AZ
• Los Angles, CA (and greater L.A.)
• San Diego, CA
• San Francisco, CA and the Bay Area
• Chicago, IL
• Louisville, KY
• Indianapolis, IN
• Baltimore, MD
• Kansas City, MO
• St. Louis, MO
• Las Vegas, NV
• Cincinnati, OH
• Columbus, OH
• Dayton, OH
• Portland, OR
• Seattle, WA
• Toronto, Canada
• Virginia (in the Washington, D.C. area)

For opportunities requiring relocation, the compensation would have to justify the expense and standard of living.   I would not want to relocate to Dystopia, Iowa for two weeks for minimum wage.   But I would relocate to Chicago indefinitely for an above median market salary.   These are extreme examples but I hope you get my meaning.

On these short term assignments I usually drive to the location and stay at an extended stay type hotel for the length of the contract.   If the location has an excellent mass transit system I might fly out and leave my car at home.   I am not a big fan of telecommuting.   I prefer working directly with the other people on my team in a dedicated work environment.

How Soon Can I Start Work?

For work in San Antonio, TX or Austin, TX I would need a day or two before starting work.

For relocation within Texas for contract assignments, I need a week between accepting and starting work.

For relocation outside Texas for contract assignments, I need two weeks between accepting and starting work.

Who Can Represent You?

I prefer to work with a small number of recruiters and vendors that I have worked with in the past.   However I will consider proposals from recruiters and vendors who are new to me.

BUT PLEASE NOTE: Third party HR professionals --- including vendors, recruiters, headhunters, and staffing companies --- must receive my explicit permission before submitting my resume to clients and hiring managers.   I require the client name and a job description before agreeing to be submitted.   It is my policy to work with only one vendor for each opportunity.   (i.e. I do not want to be submitted by multiple vendors.)   That is in everyone's best interest.

What Compensation Am I Seeking?

This is one of the first questions --- if not the first question --- that I am often asked by recruiters.   I prefer to discuss compensation after addressing the position requirements and my qualifications.

Would I be Interested in a Sales Position?

No.

What Are My Personal Details?

Nationality/Visa Status (US Citizen): U.S. Citizen

Male/Female: Male

Technical Questions

How Do I Develop My Sites?

Before using Dreamweaver MX, I developed almost all of my HTML/XHTML in a text editor called NoteTab Pro (http://www.notetab.com/.) It's a very powerful, and highly customizable text editor.   (I've even written a few of the "Clipbook Libraries" -- most about HTML -- available off the NoteTab Pro web site at http://www.notetab.com/libraries.php.)

Between 2007 and 2013, I've been doing more than half my development in Dreamweaver or Adobe's ColdFusion Builder but I still use a suped up text-editor (NoteTab Pro) for some of my development.

Developing in a text editor rather than a WYSIWYG program allows for more control over the final result.   And often the WYSIWYG editors will make unusual choices which detract from the site's appearance.   Usually it looks much better in one browser than in others.   I aim for cross browser compatibility.

Other applications I use include:

• PaintShop Pro 7
• WinMerge: for comparing two files with the same name
• TopStyle
• Internet Explorer (for viewing web sites)
• Mozilla Firefox (for viewing web sites)
• Microsoft SQL Server Management Studio (including the Query Editor and Query Designer)
• Toad for Oracle
• TortoiseSVN
• any one of a number of "Screen Ruler" applications for measuring the dimensions in pixels of objects, images, and spaces as they appear on a computer monitor.

What ColdFusion Projects Have I Worked On?

My previous ColdFusion projects have included (but are not limited to) ...

• Feedback forms (e-mail)
• Dynamic tables (databases)
• Database searches of an employee telephone directory
• Cookies
• Login security and password protected directories
• Data entry forms for a telephone bank
• Knowledge management system for a curriculum development team
• A program for matching volunteer host families with USAF Airmen on Thanksgiving day
• A program for uploading and reading CSV files containing student grades and adding their data to a database
• Dynamic PDF generation using ColdFusion 8 (cfdocument and cfpdf)
• A dynamic survey program for a Texas state agency

The projects I work on professionally are generally large and complex.   They require weeks and months of work to complete.

I'm in the process of coding some ColdFusion applications for my online portfolio.   But it will take a while and they will not be as involved as my porfessional projects.   In the meantime I have a few smaller sample applications on display on this website.   Please see the Public Portfolio.

What Experiences Have I Had With Databases?

• I used Access and SQL in my ColdFusion projects when I worked at a Fortune 500 global telecommunications company
• I've taken a database design class at Lexington Community College
• I am building a dynamic application that will appear on this site
• I have taken SQL Server 2005 and Oracle 10 development classes at San Antonio College
• I've worked exclusively with Oracle for 11 months in 2011 and 2012-2013
• Most of my professionak development work has been with SQL Server 2000 and 2005.

Do I Use Tables or CSS for Layout?

Ideally tables should only be used for tabular data --- showing relationships among content.  (e.g. a table with a column for names and another column for corresponding telephone numbers.   Relationship like that are best represented in tables.)

I have 11 years experience with CSS. I use it mostly for markup but I have also used it for positioning images on the screen (I.E. positioning without tables.) At a recent three month assignment in Phoenix, AZ I created numerous complex graphical templates in which the layouts were done entirely in CSS.

For example layouts done strictly with CSS instead of tables please view the following:

• The Snoop Deputy Dawg Pet Grooming site
• My eValentine page
• My Supernatural Horror in Literature site (with a fixed navigation bar using CSS)

What is the Extent of my JavaScript Skills?

I have worked with JavaScript for over 10 years but that experiences has largely been limited to cutting & pasting Third party scripts and generating JavaScript through ColdFusion and Dreamweaver. Most employers are satisfied with that but some insist on JavaScript written from scratch. Over the last nine months I have been working with the JQuery JavaScript library.

Please see the JavaScript / DHTML Samples in my portfolio.

Do I Know XHTML?

I have been handcoding my HTML for nearly ten years.   Recently I have been writing in XHTML.

While the great minds at the W3C consider XHTML as a new language, as a developer I see it as an extension of HTML.   It's true that requirements are stricter but the transition from HTML to XHTML is very short.

Most of the web pages on this site are written in XHTML.   At the bottom of most of them are buttons that validate the pages as valid XHTML through the W3C.

What Do I Know About Accessibility?

While working as a consultant to the Kentucky Department of Education, I co-authored the QA Accessibility Guidelines later adopted by Kentucky's Commonwealth Office of Technology.   It was a practical guide explaining to QA Testers how a review web sites and web applications for Section 508 compliance.

What are the Extent of my Usability Skills?

Applied to web site design and development, usability means making web site navigation and application use intuitive to the visitor or user.

Usability can be defined in one of two ways: It can be either be a hard skill or a soft skill.

The hard skill refers to Usability Testing and entails specialized training and often a degree.

The soft skill refers to applying Usability principles to design. This means using guidelines including but not limited to:

• Maintain consistency in design across a web site or domain.
• Don't divide the animation into more than one section of the screen.
• Don't create "click here" links.
• Don't underline text that isn't a link.
• Don't place navigation "below the fold."
• Foreground text and background colors should have high contrast. e.g. black text on a plain white background.

I've taken two workshop/classes that relate directly to Usability:

• Web Sites that Work: Designing with Your Eyes Open - User Interface Engineering - Aug. 20-21, 2001
• User Experience World Tour 2000-2001: Main Event - Nielsen Norman Group - Jan. 8, 2001

In addition I've read many articles and a book on Usability by Jakob Nielsen.

While I want to expand upon my Usability hard skills, my experience with Usability has largely been with the soft skills.

What is My Aesthetic Philosophy of Web Design?

I tend to divide most web sites into two categories with different goals and strategies:

1. Entertainment
   
   Typically, entertainment sites ...
   • Market products such as a movie or a television series
   • Engage the visitor's imagination and curiosity
   • Seduce the visitor into investigating the site and investing time
   • Feature splashy graphics and animation -- which might take a while to load
   
   
   Entertainment sites include ...
   • Movie sites such as blairwitch.com and requiemforadream.com
   • Official fan sites
   
   
   
2. Informative
   
   Usually, informative sites ...
   • Dispense information, which the visitor has requested
   • Feature intuitive navigation
   • Feature form that follows function
   • Feature easy to read text and "clean" layout
   • Don't distract the visitor with intrusive graphics and animation
   • Load quickly
   
   
   Information sites include:
   • eCommerce sites such as eBay and Amazon
   • News sites
   • Government sites
   • Educational sites
   • Search Engines like Google
   • Portals like Yahoo and MSN
   • Corporate intranets
   
   
   

My background is in intranet development so it follows that most of my work has been on informative sites.   Most of my work examples emphasis function over form, usability over beauty.   That is not to say that I am incapable of creating beautiful graphics and design pyrotechnics, just that my career has not focused on those aspects.

Why Do I Enjoy Web Site Development?

I enjoy web site design because it allows me to use both aspects of my mind: the analytical, logical aspect and the creative, aesthetic aspect.

Personal Questions

Where am I From?

I was an "army brat" as a small child so I've lived in Kansas, Germany, Virginia, and Texas.   As an adult I lived three years in Kentucky.   Currently I live in Texas in the Austin / San Antonio area.

What Do I Do In My Free Time?

My hobbies include ...

• Visiting museums
• Going to the movies
• Reading books
• Acting in community theater
• Practicing Yoga
• Dancing (Ballroom, Tango, etc.,)
• Traveling
• Visiting family