I grew up on a small farm in rural North Carolina. I spent summers bailing hay and doing my best to avoid serious injury working our cattle. In a school raffle, as chance would have it, I won a small personal computer. A Texas Instruments 99/4A (which I still have and which still works). Winning that computer changed my life and I knew my path would involve programming.

Today, I am a software developer. I’m also an author, musician, private pilot, and father of two. My family has a lot of Bruce Shankle’s. My father’s name is Edwin Bruce Shankle II, his great grandfather was Edwin Bruce Shankle. My son’s name is Edwin Bruce Shankle IV.

I am first and foremost a programmer. It is a passion I have enjoyed since I was in 7th grade and got my hands on a TI 99/4a (which I won in the school raffle and still have).

I’ve had the pleasure of developing software in many different industries including games, financial, imaging, military, pharmaceutical, and telecommunications. I enjoy solving complex problems, learning new technologies and sharing what I’ve learned and helping other developers achieve their goals.

I’ve been playing piano since 1976 and I really like Bruce Hornby’s music. I’m not really formally trained. I’m more of a play-by-ear kind-of person and I have to basically memorize a piece of music in order to perform.

In August of 2010 I had a chance to visit China. I wrote about my experience here.