35+ years experienced Computer Pro gives online lessons for all skill levels. Open to Beginning Computer questions. Expert at Excel and all things Web!

Find out more about Billy

• Can you tell us about your first experience using a computer?

  I went to high school in the early 1980’s. We weren’t
  allowed anywhere near the brand new computer lab
  until we completed a typing class. Boy was I glad I
  learned! No hunt-and-peck for this kid.
  The TRS 80 on the right is an example of what I
  learned on. Before Windows. I was totally hooked.
  I spent the summer writing a system for the school
  district to catalog and track their textbooks.
  Anything to get my hands on the machines.
  I saved up my paper route, snow shoveling and
  lawnmowing money to buy myself something similar
  for home. I knew this was what I wanted to do with
  my life, and I never looked back.

• What is the technological evolution that has marked you most and what will be, in your eyes, a turning point in this field?

  At first, we connected to nothing. Then eventually
  got modems so we could dial into character-based
  green screen systems, then AOL, then eventually the
  world wide web. The ability to find almost anything
  you wanted to know with just a bit of looking
  changed my world. But it went to a whole other
  level when DSL came in and we didn’t have to dial
  but were connected all the time!
  The turning point we need to keep our eye on is the
  inevitable onslaught of Artificial Intelligence. We do
  not need to fear it, but we need to understand it and
  the implications it has for privacy and security, and
  the impact it will have on the ways we all work and
  learn.
  These systems are becoming exponentially more
  capable. It is imperative, in the immediate term,
  that we do some very careful thinking and planning
  for how we will address this seismic shift in our
  relationship to technology.

• Explain your expertise, your interest in it and, more broadly, its importance in the computer world.

  As a computer generalist since the early days of
  Personal Computing, I have worked with everything
  from mom-and-pop shops to Fortune 500
  corporations like Disney, Starbucks and The Gap.
  This has provided me with a broad view of the way
  things can be done, and a keen awareness of where
  to focus for the highest traction in solving challenges.
  There is never “just one way” to solve a problem, so
  having a tool chest to work from helps me to guide
  solution designs down the paths most likely to be
  successful.

• Do so-called 'visionaries', such as Bill Gates, Steve Jobs and Mark Zuckerberg inspire you or do you have other role models?

  Blue-sky, or forward thinkers are increasingly
  important in our world of accelerating change. They
  are not always accurate, but the ways in which they
  invite us to broaden our world view, and challenge
  our assumptions is key to our ability to understand
  and apply innovations as they come down the road.
  Those who can envision an undreamt-of world and
  imagine what things could be like, serve to help
  guide those of us capable of executing these visions
  to bring us to a shared and more fully realized
  future.
  In 1965 Gordon Moore observed that the number of
  transistors in a dense integrated circuit doubles
  about every two years. It sounds a little dry, but it
  presaged the dramatic increase in computing power
  that led to the incredible amount of computing power
  we each have in our hand every day.

• Provide a valuable anecdote related to your subject or your days at school.

  Especially in technology, it is possible to be too early.
  My GM EV1 pictured on the right in 1999 (over 20
  years ago) was the World’s First Production Electric
  Vehicle. I was so in love with it.
  As we have seen from the rise of EVs in the last few
  years, it was ultimately the “correct” solution, but
  without the necessary support infrastructure and
  critical mass of market support, it was a beautiful
  anomaly (available only to lease) that GM eventually
  recalled and mothballed.
  There is such a thing as “dead right”.

• What would you say to an uncomfortable person in front of a screen who says that "IT is too complicated"?

  It is sometimes a little complicated, but it is never
  difficult or scary.
  Most things in the world of computing work in a way
  that makes sense if you can get your thumbnail
  under how the people who designed it were thinking.
  Sometimes it all feels foreign, but you will find as
  you begin working through any sort of computer
  challenge, that you are able to intuit how to solve
  others.
  Word Processors, Spreadsheets, Presentation
  Programs and even Programming Languages all have
  great similarities in how you interact with them, and
  how you bend them to your will!

• What are your other passions, related or non-related to computers?

  Since I spend so much of my time grounded in
  known, proven, tested environments, I like to spend
  my free time exploring some fringe theories,
  especially the idea that there may have been an
  advanced civilization well before what is commonly
  accepted.
  Göbekli Tepe (pictured to the right) is a Neolithic
  archaeological site in the Southeastern Anatolia
  Region of Turkey that is dated to 10,000 years ago,
  at a time when it is generally accepted that humans
  were in the hunter-gatherer stage of development.
  It raises interesting questions.
  I also like hockey.

• What makes you a Superprof in IT?

  I have a few core beliefs that I believe serve me and
  those who I coach very well.
  This isn’t brain surgery. Stay calm. Be patient with
  yourself and others. It is all solvable. Be open to
  solutions that are not what you are expecting. You
  will make mistakes, but Ctrl-Z is your friend.
  You can only teach somebody something they almost
  already know. Believe it or not, you almost already
  know this. I have yet to work with anyone who was
  as clueless as they feared. I take an over-theshoulder approach to coach you through directly
  solving specific challenges (with a few side detours to
  learn the extra bits and pieces that are evident on
  the path) rather than trying to exhaustively cover
  any topic.
  HAVE FUN. I have a passion for working with
  computers. I do this because I love it and for me it
  is fun. We can get the work done, but we can also
  find the humor in the world around us (that we
  sometimes cause).