Walt Ritscher hopped on the .NET roller coaster after seeing the first .NET preview back in 2000. Instantly realizing that .NET is a fundamental shift in the way developers produce code he set to work to show programmers the merits of this emerging platform. Prior to his .NET enlightenment he spent six years persuading Visual Basic and COM to work together.

 

Walt has trained thousands of corporate developers during the last ten years. His teaching schedule has taken him throughout the world providing developer training at corporations, universities and software conferences. He has collaborated on several books and videos produced for the developer market including early adopter .NET courses at Microsoft Press. He is also deeply involved in the local developer community — founding the .NET Developers Association in Redmond, WA.

 

Walt has accumulated plenty of experience as a developer — he is fluent in database, component, and Win-Forms technologies. As a web programmer he has built numerous websites including: EPA sites and the Microsoft Community Starter Kit.

 

Before software development moved to center stage in his life, Walt enjoyed a lively career as a professional keyboard player. Once he cleared the stardust from his eyes, he realized that he loved programming as much as music except writing code was a lot more lucrative.

 

Walt lives in Poulsbo Washington, a quaint waterfront town just a short ferry ride from Seattle. He still loves music, likes to travel with his family and is avidly planning his new dream house.