MossWarner Communications — Web Developer

1998 – 2001 | Web development and client delivery

This is where it all started. MossWarner was an established print design firm with a long successful history serving Fortune 100 companies, with offices in Hartford, CT (where I worked) and Mission Viejo, CA. They had recently started a Web department, and that’s where I came in.

I landed there as a freelancer over the summer after reading a book called “Learn to Code HTML in 30 Days.” My very first professional web gig was helping them finish the LAPD website for its sponsor DARE America—built in Microsoft FrontPage, as was the style at the time. I was offered a full-time job not long after that project delivered.

What I Built

LAPD Website (DARE America)

This was the project that started everything. DARE America needed a website for the LAPD, and MossWarner had the contract. I came in as a freelancer to help finish it, and the fact that I delivered a working product on time led to a full-time offer. It was built in Microsoft FrontPage—which tells you everything about the era.

Fortune 100 Client Websites

Once full-time, I built and shipped websites for MossWarner’s Fortune 100 client base using the web technologies of the day: HTML, CSS, JavaScript, and classic ASP. This was the late 90s, when “web developer” meant something different than it does today. CSS was new. JavaScript was for image rollovers. Browser compatibility meant testing in Netscape 4 and IE 5. The tools were primitive by modern standards.

American Cancer Society E-Commerce Site

I built an e-commerce site for an American Cancer Society fundraising event. This was notable because e-commerce in the late 90s meant building payment flows and order management from scratch or with early, clunky integrations—there were no Stripe APIs or Shopify embeds. It was a practical introduction to building software that handles real money and real user data.

What I Learned

Ship things people actually use. There’s something clarifying about building something, putting it in front of a client, and seeing whether it works for them. This habit of shipping working software—and adjusting based on feedback—started here and hasn’t changed.

The fundamentals don’t change as fast as the frameworks. HTML, CSS, HTTP—the core technologies I learned here are still relevant, even as everything built on top of them has changed dramatically. Understanding what happens at the protocol level has helped me debug problems at every level of the stack in the decades since.

Start somewhere. I read a book, took a chance on freelance work, and it turned into a career. Everyone has to start somewhere. The path from “Learn to Code HTML in 30 Days” to architecting Kubernetes platforms isn’t a straight line, but it started with being willing to build something and ship it.

Why This Mattered for Later Work

Every skill I’ve developed since started from the foundation built here: comfort with web technologies, client-facing communication skills, and the habit of shipping working software. The e-commerce project in particular was an early lesson in building systems that handle real data with real consequences—a thread that runs through everything I’ve done since.

Technologies: HTML, CSS, JavaScript, Microsoft FrontPage, classic ASP, early web stacks.

Related

• BP-Tech — Where I went next, building on the web foundation from MossWarner