Paul George
Senior Software Engineer & Manager
Now at Carahsoft
- Building software since1990
- Writing Java since1996
- Led a team of20
- Agile roleScrum Master
My career
1990
U.S. Department of Justice
My first job. It sounds cooler than it was. I ended up stuck on a Mainframe team where I was constantly being scolded for spending too much time over with the UNIX guys.
1996
GTE Government Systems
I left government employ for GTE Government Systems, and my first paid web work. After a couple of months of PERL and CGI, my two teammates and I adopted Java in November 1996. We got the company to pay for classes and books and never looked back. Unfortunately, our web team was considered overhead/marketing, and the company never really saw the strategic value of the Internet.
1999
DynCorp
DynCorp bought GTE Government Systems. Our web team became a cost center: we started winning contracts and building real web applications with real databases on the back end. Vindication!! Then came the re-orgs, and so it goes.
2000
Saraf Software Solutions
Lured away by our ex-director to be Director of IT at Saraf Software Solutions, a small software company in Falls Church, leading a 20 person team to bring a consumer product to market and ride the .com wave. All was great for about three months, until things got bad there and I left. They folded soon after.
Back to DynCorp, then CSC
DynCorp wanted me back, so I returned to the same office. I drifted away from real software development into managing software projects for government agencies, but I did bid and win a small software development contract by myself that kept me going for about 2 years. In 2003, CSC bought DynCorp.
2005
General Dynamics
They sponsored my security clearance (very hush, hush) ;) and I worked on Top Secret projects for various three letter agencies, with a lot of great people including my boss, Rich, and my supervisor, Mike.
2008
Booz Allen Hamilton
From General Dynamics I went straight to Booz Allen, where I lucked into an excellent team doing some really cool stuff, 100% technical for two years. Then I got voted Scrum Master for an Agile development project.
2012
Matrix Consulting
On November 1, 2012 I joined several coworker friends at Matrix Consulting, a small subcontractor. These guys were great and I spent 5 wonderful years as part of the family.
Race day with the team. 2017
CoreTech, my own company
I started CoreTech with two partners, both also software developers. We did great for a while, but then COVID hit, and there's no safety net when you're out on your own.
2020
Microsoft
I took a friend's advice and joined him at Microsoft. I loved the culture and work ethic, and working to help build the cloud was much cooler than building things in the cloud. I was there until December 2025.
2026
Carahsoft
After Microsoft I went to work for Carahsoft with my son, who had already been there for 8 years. This is where I will work till I retire.
Education
Computer Science, Virginia Tech, from 1985.