Dennis' post in response to: What's your story? Web Pro World January 2004

I'm not quite sure how to start this, so here goes. My name is Dennis Lewis and I grew up and still live in a small town in southwest Iowa. I was born with a neuromuscular disease and use an electric wheelchair to get around. Now, I don't want you think that I'm after sympathy by telling you this because I'm not, it just happens to be an important part of my story. I also happened to be very good at school, always near the top of my class. From the time I hit middle school I had teachers telling me to go into computers, "Oh you'll be great at computers."

Well, I thought they were saying that working on computers would be my only option because of my wheelchair. Naturally being a teenaged boy, I didn't like people telling me what I should like or do. Besides, I had my own "ideas"...I was going to be the first wheelchair player in the National Hockey League! ;o) And like Vicki said earlier "I never wanted to be a computer nerd" either. I didn't just hang out with smart kids, I hung out with everybody, the cool kids, the jocks, the rebels, etc. I could fit in anywhere. I didn't want to be pigeonholed or stereotyped. And, I've got a bit of a stubborn streak in me so I wasn't about to do anything with computers. ;o) Except maybe play games, and not much of that either because Nintendo was better.

So I went through High School avoiding computers. Worked a couple of summer jobs with the city clerk's office and the library. I wasn't sure what I wanted to study so I went on to a junior college to save money while I figured it out. I worked as a math tutor for the school until I received my associate's degree. I decided math would be my future and transferred to a University. To get my degree I was required to take programming in C and Pascal, I really did well and enjoyed both classes. Then, I experienced the internet for the first time and knew right away that this would become a huge part of my life. I didn't really think of it as a career possibility, but I knew that it meant I could learn about or see anything anywhere in the world from my computer. In January of 1996, I graduated with a Bachelor's degree in Mathematics. In theory, I can teach math at some junior colleges, but in reality they want their teachers to have a Master's degree. At this point, I was sick of school, I didn't want to go on to Graduate school. All of my upper level math classes were held at night while everything else was in the morning, so for 2.5 years I went to school 3 days a week from 9AM - 9:30PM with an hour drive each way.

I decided to take a year off and see what happens. Well, I found a job right in my own small town with a guy who developed software and had a worldwide clientel. What are the odds, huh? lol. He told me right away "I'll take care of the software, I want you to take care of the internet side." He gave me 2 books about HTML & Javascript and told me when I was done with them to redesign his website because he didn't have the time. I did, and I haven't ever looked back. I'm now learning CSS, PHP, XML, and XSL. I'm now thinking of going off on my own. Like Mikmik, I've designed websites for others along the way but haven't made my own yet but I'm working on it as we speak.

Now that I've matured a little, I know that my teachers weren't telling me that computers were my only option, they were just my best option...and it turns out, they were right.