I’m Michael White — or “tptmike” almost everywhere online. I currently reside in north Texas, not far from the cool side (FW!) of the Dallas/Fort Worth area and work as a Software Developer for a fin-tech company that does company payroll and tax process. Super dry stuff but from a development perspective very interesting. Prior to this I was an IT Support Analyst and eventually a Systems Administrator for a regional hospital in Southwestern Ontario (yeah… Canada, eh?). I’ve been an IT professional for most of my career, wearing many hats which also includes project leader for an open source project for several years. I love building things that work, fixing things that don’t, and simplifying the overly complicated (usually by accident).

Tech Background

• Experience in systems administration
• Software development across multiple stacks
• Java, .NET, PHP, JS
• Infrastructure, automation, troubleshooting
• Open-source contributor and maintainer
• Occasional creator of strange but useful tools

I enjoy diving into problems that look unsolvable until they suddenly aren’t.
That’s the fun part of tech for me — the puzzle. You can find more of my FOSS related work at Github which is more than likely under the Everneth organization.

Creative Background

Once upon a time, I was a giant band nerd. I played Tuba in high school and kept it up in college. But then I discovered my knack for computers and well… let’s just say everyone who tried to coach me in high school towards an IT career were right the first time.

Somewhere along the way, I started writing. I don’t remember exactly when it started, but I was back in college for information systems. What began as a small idea turned into The Burden of Honor, a fully developed fantasy world with politics, war, espionage, character arcs, and more lore than I know what to do with. Becoming an author has shifted from “maybe someday” to “I’m actually doing this.”

I’ll be blogging my whole journey — the highs, lows, rewrites, triumphs, and disasters — right here.

The Human Stuff

Outside of work and writing:

• I play video games with my kids
• I make music with them
• I’m always tinkering with a new project
• I laugh too hard at my own jokes
• And yes… my self-appointed title is
  Chief Donkey With a Keyboard

This site is me — not a polished author brand, not a curated business profile. Just the projects I’m working on and the person behind them.