Robbie Ferguson
From Category5 Wiki
Robbie Ferguson is a technologist from Barrie, Ontario.
Founding his first full-time business at the age of seventeen, Robbie has been working with computer hardware, software, and general technology in a professional capacity all of his adult life.
Robbie's media experience stems from radio. He began his work in FM radio at the age of fifteen, writing and producing a weekly radio broadcast for a small FM station in Huntsville, Ontario. After a few radio and DJ jobs, he was hired as a full-time on-air personality at a much larger station, where he worked for more than three years before leaving to pursue his career in technology.
Robbie believes in providing outstanding service to his clients, and Category5 is an extension of his vision to be able to provide professional-level, personalized support to those who need it. No matter who you are or where you're from, Robbie makes himself available for live q&a each week through this unique, interactive medium.
Robbie has been married since 2001, and he and his wife Bekah have two young children; Natalia (2005) and Zech (2007).
Robbie's first "computer" was a pre-PC; a Commodore Vic 20. Robbie got this system when he was four years old, and by the age of five was coding software in the integrated BASIC language. Robbie later began working on XT systems, which had a 4.77 MHz processor, and later the PS/2 from IBM, which carried a screaming 8 MHz processor.
The PS/2 was Robbie's first PC build experience. Constantly swapping in and out peripherals such as Adlib sound cards, Robbie became familiar with many of the inner workings of the PC.
At the age of fifteen, with a number of years of hardware and software experience under his belt, Robbie was hired to maintain the computers at a retail store. During this time, he dealt with the onslaught of the early computer virii such as NATAS, and other BSV's.
Then, at seventeen, his full-time business was formed. He was registered with the Canadian government as "The Computer Guy", and trained customers twice (or three times) his age how to use computers.
Apprenticeship, field education, and experience have brought Robbie to where he is today.
From 2002 thru 2009, Robbie ran Prodigy Digital Solutions; a successful IT solutions company. In 2009, he closed down his company when a local IT firm hired him on as the head of their web development department. Now, Robbie's professional focus is on advanced PHP development, as well as hosting Category5 Technology TV each week. Likes: helping others, irish tin whistle, hot sauce, electronica, ubuntu linux, compiz fusion, rock band, jawbone, home-made pasta, fishing, making wine, cooking over a wood fire, friends, colm wilkinson, portable media, technology, star trek tng novels, linux, les miserables, thermaltake, big computer monitors, tiny laptops.
Dislikes: impatient people, stores that allow people to play lottery tickets like a casino while you wait in line, customers who pay late, running out of hard drive space, dishwashers that won't clean your dishes properly unless you pre-wash them, audio anomalies, back-splashing coffee pots, the way dempsters pre-sliced bagels are actually only sliced about 2/3 the way.
Would Like to Meet: Colm Wilkinson
Goofy Facts: As a late-teen, Robbie played Frederic in the Pirates of Penzance, and the Tin Man in the Wizard of Oz, both for opera house musicals in Gravenhurst, Ontario. Robbie met his wife on ICQ instant messenger. Robbie runs a number of companies, one of which is a publishing company to print and distribute novels which his wife has written. Robbie used to have hair. As a teen, Robbie lived in foster care. Robbie moved to Barrie to work in radio, but had to work as a grill-chef for about a year before finally getting hired as a radio DJ. Robbie left radio largely due to the fact that his web development company was taking too much of his time when a boom in clients occured after he mentioned it on the air. Robbie started Category5.TV to help friends and local clients--the global boom was completely unexpected, yet welcome.
