What's My Name?
More to the point: why "fadden"? My full name is Andrew McFadden, though I usually go by Andy. Or, at least, I did until I started working for small companies with other people named Andy. We tried "Andy One" and "Andy Two" for a while, but that just didn't cut it. There's an informal tradition among computer types to be referred to by your e-mail address, so the name "fadden" started getting used. After a while, it just sorta stuck.
I'm occasionally referred to as "Mr. Fadden" or (for no very good reason) "Dr. Fadden". That's just weird. Please stick with "Andy", "Mr. McFadden", or "fadden", as you like.
The Story So Far
Trying to figure out if I'm somebody you know? Well...
I went to high school at Homestead High in Cupertino, CA (graduated class of 1987).
I went to college at U.C. Berkeley in Berkeley, CA (graduated class of 1991).
I graduated and went to work at Amdahl in Santa Clara, CA, as a software engineer. I played lots of Netrek, and even wrote up a history of the game. I wrote a commercial data compression application for, of all things, the Apple IIgs. It was published by WestCode Software.
I escaped and went to Highland Digital in Palo Alto, CA. I got laid off after six weeks along with most of the rest of the employees (small company, big problems). The company has shape-shifted since then.
After being unemployed for a few weeks (which was very relaxing, actually) I went to Catapult Entertainment in Cupertino, CA, makers of the XBAND Video Game Modem and Network (R.I.P.). At one point I went to Japan with Eric Snider and some other folks. In early '96 I bought a CD recorder and wrote the FAQ for them.
I eventually left and went to WebTV Networks in Palo Alto, CA. The company got assimilated into Microsoft in August 1997.
I left WebTV in December of '99, and began the new year at Rearden Steel Technologies. In January 2002 the company changed its name to Moxi Digital, Inc., and in May 2002 it was acquired by Digeo. I left Digeo in July 2002.
One of my side interests is martial arts.
I appear to be stuck in the S.F. Bay Area. Works for me.
In May of 2003 I married Suszi Lurie!
A resume can be found here.