My Git Book Writing Blog

A Dedication: Peter Winston

Most books have some kind of dedication page, near the very front. It’s a bare page, with just a name or a sentence indicating who the book is dedicated to. Over the past few months I spent time thinking who I might dedicate this book to.

When I took up the matter with my wife, I learned that not all books have dedications. This led me to look at other Manning titles. Some of them had dedications, and some didn’t.

This hasn’t stopped me from thinking about the short list of people for this special page. One name that persistently pops up is Peter Winston. He is the CEO of ICS, a technology company specializing in UX design utilizing Qt and Motif. He was the first person to hire me out of college.

I remember that in my interview with him, he asked me what I wanted to be when I grew up. I hardly remember my answer now. What I do remember is that he’s the only person who ever asked me that question so directly.

I enjoyed my time with ICS. Because it was a start-up, I was able to see and participate in a lot of the non-technical functions of a software company (training, support, technical sales). ICS was a great first job, and I look back on it with great fondness. It’s a testament to Peter’s business acumen that ICS is still flourishing.

Thank you for reading!