A weblog about: Rob Dubois, The Interfacer

I'm Rob Dubois - alias Interfacer - a forty something 3D graphic designer working with a door & window manufacturer in the interior of British Columbia, Canada (often called God's country).

Actually I wear a few hats at work. I'm also the computer tech, installing and updating hardware and software. As well, I maintain the company web site, emails and a few other Internet services. My main job is to create diagrams of windows & doors along with a 'cut list' of each of the parts. The diagrams & cut lists go to the shop for manufacturing.

I'm the only person at my company that has advanced technology skills. The folks here are all experienced wood workers and keen management types, they just don't have much experience with computers or the Internet - so I was hired in August 2003.

At the time the company was in the technological dark ages. The fastest computer was a Pentium II, 300MHz, 64 Meg RAM and it was the CAD station, yikes! Two of three email accounts were not working. There was no anti-virus on any computers or the server. Quotes and invoices were created with a DOS version of ACCPac and printed on dot matrix printers (one for quotes, one for invoices).

Things have improved dramatically. Now the company is near the leading edge of technology with new Pentium 4 computers, Win XP and a decent 64 bit RAID server with digital media back ups that are stored off site. The boss got me a powerful software package called Inventor, (by AutoDesk, the makers of AutoCAD) and sent me to Vancouver for training. He also bought a much better accounting system so now we can print quotes and invoices on the laser printer.

I also have completely redesigned the company web site in Flash, have a look here > http://customwindow-door.bc.ca/
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The boss has been trying to sell the company for a few months now and it looks like there might be another company interested in buying. Nothing is confirmed yet and the boss is on vacation, so everything is pretty much on hold until he gets back. Then who knows what will happen. Either way, I don't think I be looking for work anytime soon. That's OK, I'm happy here, I make a good wage and I get to live in God's country.

Peace and Blessings to all!