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Martin Z. Gruszka, PMP
Owner and Consultant at Three Column Consulting LLC.

My name Martin Gruszka, I have spent the past 20 years of my life building, managing, and maintaining Enterprise Application Systems. I caught the programming bug at age 16. I started writing software on an Compudyne PC with a 386 DX2 Processor and 4 MB of RAM. I guess every computer person knows their first rig.

The wonder of making a machine respond to commands, translated into a wonder of making it connect to other machines. Then the Internet, early protocols like Gopher and I was hooked on connecting and exchanging information with people on the other side of the globe.

This early obsession, translated into a career building solutions, databases, web platforms and frameworks. I realized that the systems I was building had real impact on people’s lives. The bigger the solution, the more stakeholders, end user anxiety, Board Room meetings, questions about the future.

So I studied Business, engaged with mentors, owners of IT Services companies, CTOs, and Entrepreneurs. I learned that what matters is impact and the objective. Technology can not exists for its own sake. It must accomplish non-technical goals, it must improve lives, productivity, impact the bottom line, and serve the user.

This dual focus both on the technology and its use in business is why I launched Three Column Consulting LLC. One thing this company will alway do and excel at, is create solutions, bridge business and technology and empower the users.

Fun Facts

  • Born in Poland, I came to the U.S. at 13, attended High School and College in the U.S. People mistake my slight accent for Dutch or Australian.
  • Married, I have a 4 year old daughter and a 19 year old cat. The cat is still going strong despite most prognostications.
  • Active in the community and local civic organizations. I love Northern Virginia and Ashburn VA in particular.
  • I have been in a Peruvian riot, pulled out of a car by Russian Security Services and robbed in France. Ask me about my travel sometimes.
  • I sunk an expensive drone in the ocean attempting to fly a fishing lure out. I am not proud of this one.

Professional Experience

  • Technical Strategist and architect with years defining project road maps, identifying platforms, and designing solutions for various clients.
  • Technical Project Manager specializing in defining project plans, leading development teams, quality assurance specialists UX and UI designers.
  • Agile Scrum practitioner with years of experience implementing Scrum processes in technical teams.
  • SDLC Expert with experience defining and implementing software development operations and processes.
  • Business Process and Requirements Analyst with previous experience leading business requirement discovery sessions and translating into functional requirements.
  • Database Designer and Integration Specialist. Previous experience working with MS SQL Server, MySQL, SSIS, Mulesoft, and BizTalk.
  • Software Developer. Previous experience working with Microsoft .Net, C#, ASP.Net, VB.Net, VBA, Javascript.
  • Experience deploying various Enterprise Platforms including SharePoint, Dynamics CRM, AX, SL, DotNetNuke, Aqualogic, MemberTrack, Magento.

Philosophy

Software Development is a creative profession.  Don’t let us coders convince you that we are engineers.  We are not.  Give two coders the same set of requirements and they’ll produce two completely different solutions.  A few may even achieve the same result.  Consequently, hiring a developer is similar to hiring an artisan.  The higher the language abstraction, the further away from machine code, the less of an engineering mindset and more creative thinking is involved.  Furthermore I believe there exists  fundamental confusion about what Software Technology professionals do.  My approach to technology, to managing development teams, and creating technical solutions has been about facilitating creative thought, encouraging it,  and managing creative thinkers.  Email me let me tell you how this translates to delivering great code and software solutions, and how it translates to satisfied productive development teams.  I can be reached at mgruszka@3columnconsulting.com