Kevin R. Grohoske is Director of Software Engineering of Bit-Wizards Custom Software Solutions, Inc. of Fort Walton Beach, Florida. Bit-Wizards Custom Software Solutions is an innovative commercial technology company that provides Professional Software engineering, Commerce, Wireless, Web, Consulting, and Information Technology Solutions. He has over 14 years of experience architecting and developing applications for the Windows Family of Operating Systems.
He spent several years in the US Army upon graduation from high school in Findlay, Ohio in 1989. He had the honor to serve in the Headquarters Company of the First Calvary Division in Fort Hood, Texas and serve in the Headquarters Company of the 416th Engineer Group of the Ohio Army National Guard.
Kevin’s early interest in computers was sparked when he was in his teens by a Timex Sinclair 100 computer his older brother passed down. He learned Sinclair BASIC before moving on other platforms such as the Timex Sinclair 2068, TRS-80, Apple IIe, and IBM PC’s. This early knowledge of PC programming sparked his successful career in the software development field.
Kevin’s professional software development career began after he left the US Army and took a role as a consulting software developer in the Cincinnati/Dayton market. He soon discovered that his unique combination of business and technical savy allowed him to bridge the information technology and business organizations. Kevin gained significant skills in reviewing business processes, identifying requirements, and architecting complex technical solutions while working with Fortune 500 companies such as LexisNexis, Duke Energy, International Paper, and Ethicon Endo-Surgery (a Johnson and Johnson Company).
His expert knowledge in software development and other technologies has enabled him to mentor his software development peers through industry organizations such as the Gulf Coast .NET User Group, for which he is the current president. He also speaks throughout the Gulf Coast region to other technical organizations, business leaders, and companies regarding leveraging technology to increase profitability, efficiencies, and gain more control over their ever growing information. His presentations have been recognized for their attention to detail, uniqueness, and relaxed delivery style.
In 2006, Kevin joined the team at Bit-Wizards and quickly became an invaluable member of the team. As a senior developer on the team he received the 2007 Employee of the Year Award and the Superior Performer Award in 2008 and 2009. Additionally, Kevin was very proud when it was announced that in 2009 Bit-Wizards made Inc Magazines List of the Top 5000 Fastest Growing Privately Held Companies at number 1617.
In addition to being a Microsoft Certified Professional Developer, Solutions Developer, and Professional, he holds a Baccalaureate of Science Degree in Information Systems, and is pursuing his Master’s of Business Administration at Texas A&M University.
Kevin resides in Shalimar, Florida with his wife of 15 years, Ali, and their two children. In his free time he typically can be found with his family boating, sailing, fishing, diving, or simply enjoying the natural beauty afforded by living on Florida’s Emerald Coast.
Technical Skills
| Operating Systems: |
| Win 7/Vista/XP |
Win Server 2008/3/0 |
Win 98/95/ME |
Win CE 3.0/4.0/5.0 |
| MS-DOS 6.22 |
|
|
|
| |
| Languages/Databases: |
| C# |
JAVA\J2EE |
MS SQL Server |
ORACLE |
| BASIC/VB/VB.NET |
HTML / SGML / XML |
MS Access |
Active Server Pages |
| Transact SQL/PL SQL |
XPATH / XSLT |
MYSQL |
SYBASE |
| |
| Software/Technology: |
| Sharepoint |
MTS /MSMQ |
Rational Rose |
Windows Workflow |
| .NET 4.0/3.5/3/2/1.1 |
Visual Basic 6 |
Silverlight |
LINQ/Entity Framework |
| WCF |
WPF |
Kentico |
ODBC/DAO/ADO+ |
| IIS |
ODBC/DAO/ADO+ |
Internet Explorer |
Firefox |
| Visio |
Crystal Reports |
MS Project 2005 |
ErWin 3.5 |
| SmartClient |
Active Reports |
Dynamics GP |
MS Office |
| MS Project |
Micros POS |
MS Commerce Svr |
QuickBooks |
| |
| Hardware: |
| Pentium/486/386 |
SmartPhone |
PocketPC |
|
Work Experience
Senior Software Engineer, Vice President of Software Engineering
Bit-Wizards Custom Software Solutions, Inc. Fort Walton Beach, FL. Oct 06 – Present
- Served as the functional and/or technical leader on multiple simultaneous software development, SharePoint, and other technical projects. Monitored budget, resources, and client service requests.
- Architected complex software development applications and business processes.
- Led software development projects using development tools such as: ASP.NET, C#, and Visual Basic.NET using Visual Studio 2003/2005/2008 and the .NET Frameworks.
- Created and deployed Transact SQL Stored procedures to SQL Server 2000/5/8
- Performed project analysis, requirements gathering, and user acceptance testing for software applications.
- Assisted in the development proposals, estimates, application designs, and mentored junior developers.
- Acquired a Microsoft Certified Professional Developer and Microsoft Technical Specialist accreditation for developing Visual Studio 2008 Web, Web Services, and Windows Form Applications.
Senior Software Engineer
E-Commerce Technical Lead: LexisNexis. Miamisburg, Ohio. Jun 01 – Nov 06
- Architected, developed, and supported electronic commerce applications used to perform online and batch credit card backend transaction processing which generated approximately 1.5 million dollars in gross revenue annually.
- Used Service Oriented Architecture (SOA) design strategies and development models to build robust applications that integrated back office business systems including online commerce and order management processes (BPM).
- Performed technical assessments/business analysis and determined project resource estimated from business requirements.
- Envisioned, designed, developed, and tested enterprise business applications.
- Developed multi-tiered business applications using Visual Basic/.NET, JAVA, XML, XSL, XPATH, Microsoft SQL Server T-SQL/PLSQL stored procedures, Oracle, Sybase, Commerce Server 2000, and Active Server Pages (ASP).
- Worked with business unit leaders and external customers to improve communication and coordination among involved parties effective reducing support issues and improving solution designs.
- Acquired a Microsoft Certified Solution Developer accreditation on Visual Basic 6.0
Senior Consultant
Systems Evolution, Inc. Cincinnati, Ohio. Sep 98 – Apr 01
- Provided information technology consulting and development services to Fortune 500 companies such as Duke Energy, LexisNexis, International Paper, Ethicon-Endosurgery (a Johnson & Johnson Company).
- Served as the team functional lead on a successful multi-million dollar Intranet application for a major utility company.
- Designed and developed multi-tiered Visual Basic and Active Server applications using Visual Basic 6 components (COM), MTS, Oracle PL-SQL, ASP, XML, Visual Basic Script, and JavaScript.
- Led in the development of internal billing management software.
Software Developer
Professional Data Resources. Cincinnati, Ohio. Feb 98 – Sep 98
- Developed back office Visual Basic and Active Server applications for LexisNexis.
- Designed and developed a commerce infrastructure using Site Server, CyberCash credit card authorization SDK, and Vertex tax components.
- Developed SQL Server stored procedures.
Software Developer
FESTech Software Solutions. Findlay, Ohio. Dec 97 – Feb 98
- Developed custom software solutions for clients using Visual Studio 5.0, SQL Server, and MS Access.
- Provide technical Information Technology consulting and business process analysis.
- Created prototypes of factory floor automation systems using Rockwell Software components and server applications.
- Acquired a Microsoft Certified Solution Developer accreditation on Visual Basic 5.0
Non-Commissioned Officer (Corporal)
United States Army. Feb 94 – Jan 97
- Supervised a team of soldiers that performed application installations, configuration, and networking.
- Served as the 1st Cavalry Division’s Publication and Forms Officer, the G-1’s Information Officer and the G-1’s Replacement Operations Officer during military exercises.
- Developed business application using dBase and Microsoft Access.
- Routinely provided technical training to employees.
Professional Licenses & Memberships
- Microsoft Certified Professional Developer (MCPD) Win-Web - MCP ID: 446525
- Microsoft Certified Technical Specialist (MCTS) Win-Web-Web Services
- Microsoft Certified Solution Developer
- Microsoft Certified Professional
Specialized Training
- Sharepoint Development and Technologies
- Analyzing Requirements and Defining Microsoft .NET Solution Architectures
- Microsoft Solutions Development Discipline
- Programming J2ee, Java Servlets & Java Server Pages
- J2ee Programming Part 2: Enterprise Java Beans
- Java 2: Language Basics
- Introducing OOAD and the UML OOAD with the UML: Fundamentals OOAD processes
Education
MBA, Texas A&M Commerce, Texas. Currently Completing GPA: 3.25
B.S. MIS, Union Institute and University Cincinnati, Ohio. GPA: 3.5
HIGH SCHOOL DIPLOMA. Findlay High School, Findlay, Ohio.