iterate

Solar Networking

What can you do as a struggling entrepreneur? Find out what the people want, build it, and then sell it! That's how my story began. I tried getting into the solar panel game, but that was all already owned by materials suppliers and roofers, not really much room for innovation from a software perspective. Software is unique in that you can get started with almost zero cost (Just the cost of your laptop). I spent nearly 80k in tuition costs for an education at UT. Was it worth it? I learned a lot about systems, teamwork, studying, mechanics of systems, the dynamics of things; ultimately, I learned that what I enjoyed most was being able to tell a computer what to do. Simulations, linear programming, analysis of waveforms, all interesting stuff, but telling a computer to transform something from data to a visualization is so cool and interesting.

Data Visualization

With a team of other undergrads, I mapped the airflow of a model vehicle intended to model a car with its windows open. Does the windows open provide drag? How does the wind through the windows actually come into play? It was a vortex, and presented a bit of drag. In 2016 I created QC Forever, a levey-jennings chart generator for LCMS instruments. Since then, QCF has generated over 10,000 quality control charts for LCMS machines. For context, a typical LCMS looks for about 64 chemicals present in a liquid, and we generate about 3 charts per chemical compound.

Laboratory Origins

Back in 2015, I started work at a laboratory management company (Integrity Health Plus) - this company did not quite make it, but the experiences I took away were great. I joined the fledgling IT department and soon began to create dashboards, custom code to query the inept Laboratory Management System that we were using, to look for gaps. But ultimately, it wasn't that important. The hardest part and consequentially the most important part of a Laboratory is the billing department. If you don't have good billing and insurance verification, you will fail. I was too shy with money and diving into this sphere to really go after it, and besides that, I found the data discovery and workflow enhancement part of software more interesting than payments. I'm not sure that's the case anymore interest wise, but UI and visualization is still a heck of a lot easier than payments.

Philanthropy, Entrepreneurship, and Software

Fast forward to now, I'm part of a team that creates software to help people in Chicago, Colorado, California, and across the US. I think it's no secret that economic disparity and inequity is overwhelming in this country. In business terms, there are people who need help we are able to provide that help through philanthropic, entrepreneurship, and software engineering means.

The intersection of these three fields is where we stand today. Impact Charitable paved the way by combining charitable giving with adept program management. A whirlwind of activity culminating in the arrival of a Silicon Valley software alum. Then, I joined the fray. A non alum of typical silicon valley, I found myself overwhelmed with excitement for the acuity of intelligent design that was present. A schematic that has stayed useful and has provided much needed scalability while reducing the burden of systems management.

The Future

What does the future hold? AidKit is growing and helping more and more people. I will continue to stay here as long as I'm needed and as long as we're still doing good work. Stay tuned at www.aidkit.com!

Where to find me?

• github.com/robwalls3

• instagram.com/thethirdroman