Since you are in my site you already know that my name is Carlos Mario Mejia but I will appreciate if you call me Mario. I'm a self motivated Colombian Webmaster. I came to the United States in the year 2001 full of hopes but with empty pockets same as most inmigrants. I was blessed to get a job at a printing company and get to know a lady who besides helping me perfect my english skills, she (without knowing it) introduced me to the world of the design.

I started doing the worst job in the company cleaning the stuff needed for the printing, then I was promoted to be the shipping and handling guy. A few months after another promotion to do the actual printing and that's the time when I got interested in the design process. The designer they had was in my ignorant opinion a good designer but the reality was other. The guy took a lot of time to do his job and I was convinced that he was the best. I told him that if he wanted to teach me the basic stuff I could give him a hand when I wasn't that busy but he replied that it was impossible to teach me all that because it was very hard. I know today that what he wanted was to keep people away from realizing that he was not doing his job in the right way. Well the story is much longer but if you really want to know you can ask me and I will tell you the rest.
Anyway, I was finally able to show him that with my own initiative it wasn't that hard and I ended up doing most of the job he was doing. That's my story about how I learned Photoshop, Macromedia Freehand and Illustrator.

I became interested in computers by accident. At nights after job I found myself doing nothing so I decided to explore some "software". I asked a few friends if the can copy for me some cool software they had to play with, didn't matter the names or what they do, I just wanted something to explore. One of those was Macromedia Dreamweaver. I don't recall why I decided to go for that one but all I know is that once I started doing tutorials I found online I fell in love with the web. After that I went to school and graduated form the Florida Career College in 2005 as an Associate in Sience Website Administrator - Webmaster. Almost immediatly I started doing freelancing but promptly realize that in order to make business I had to have a company name so I opened one and named it Miami Monster Designs, Inc. Because of a compromise with a customer, I was obligated to learn the basics of programming in PHP language. It was a nightmare at the beggining but nowadays I really enjoy it. Other skills came along with PHP, in example once you want to do something in PHP without refreshing the page you need JavaScript, to implement succesful PHP you need XML, etc.

But everything is not perfect and after a few months of working by myself I learned a new term, a phrase that will change my focus and even make better my design skills... "Search Engine Optimization". With that alone you can tell I'm a big fan of the main Search Engine

Easy adaptability to any position, able to assume new responsibilities, well organized and efficient. Highly advanced computer skills (Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Publisher, Access, etc), light typing, good communications and quick learner. Ability to create custom flyers, brochures, catalogs, logos, Digital image editing, etc, for general advertisement purposes. PHP, MySQL, HTML, XHTML, JavaScript, CSS, Styles, Templates. Digital Image Programs (Freehand MX2004, Photoshop CS, Corel Draw, Illustrator CS, Flash 8), Ecommerce Expert, Professional PSEM certified. Experienced Linux server administrator, Red Hat, CentOs, Fedora (the one I currently use for my server distro). Good experience compiling and administering Apache server.

Excellent Server security skills; able to fight a DDoS attack, troubleshoot DNS settings, write command line, install RPMs, administer remotely via SSH, etc. Able to plan and configure Linux and/or Windows LAN networks, apply security permissions, hardening, VPNs (Virtual Private Networks) for remote communications, scan networks for vulnerabilities, add wireless devices, etc. I was taught at school the basic web development skills, the other skills like programming and server administration I learned by my own initiative in my spare time, which I’m proud to say I use effectively.