Developer and open source advocate
I've been working with open source software since around 1995, when I first installed Slackware on my computer after getting tired of the constant issues Windows 95 would have. Having used Solaris at a friend's house (his father used it for work), I decided to look for a Unix-like I could run. I stumbled across Slackware, and have used Linux as my primary operating system ever since. I still try out other OSes, it's a hobby of mine.
After using Slackware for about a week I decided I wanted to contribute something back, and started learning all I could about programming and package management solutions. Having had experience with C in school (which I later learned was unusual, as most schools jump from BASIC to C++), I started coding an improved yet backward-compatible package manager for Slackware. It never made it in to Slackware officially, but it was a good start.
I've loved programming since playing with LOGO as a kid, and open source work meant I could use it for something that would actually help people. So I've tried to contribute back to most of the open source projects I use, as well as creating open source projects of my own.
In the past six years or so I've grown very fond of working with Django and Rails, as well as being a strong advocate of HTML5 and CSS3. I've always been meticulous about standards compliance and following best practices for coding, and that has led to me loving working with Python in general, and web development.
Work Terms
I work odd hours, but always make sure to include at least 4 hours overlap with business hours in the client's timezone. I'm relatively low priced for my skillset and talent since I live in a low cost-of-living area. I prefer fixed-price per milestone but also open to hourly contracts.