Michael Cannon, President
Michael Cannon is the founder and president of Cannonbose. He's husband to lovely wife, Pei-Chi. They met on an international dance cruise one rain-free, warm Seattle July evening in 1999 and have been together ever since he found her the next morning, offering her a yellow rose and lunch out. Michael is also a world traveler having been throughout Europe, Russia, South Korea, Japan, Taiwan, and the Middle East. He hopes to get south of the equator within a couple of years starting in Brazil.
Michael grew up a Navy brat moving up the Pacific Coast, starting from San Diego. In 1987 his family settled down in Skagit County, Washington where he finished high school and worked on a dairy farm. After graduating with Washington State Honors, he attended Skagit Valley College to study everything from animal husbandry to business, from computer programming to theater. In 1993, he graduated with an Associates degree in chemistry and went to Seattle to work in the theater industry to follow artistic interests.
At the end of 1994, Michael finally put his chemistry degree to use while serving as an explosive ordnance disposal AKA bomb squad technician in the United States Air Force throughout the United States, Europe, Middle East, and Asia. After leaving the Air Force with an honorable discharge he pursued a bachelors degree in computer science and business from Seattle University.
Though not at the top of his class, his fellow students always found him to be rock steady when the going got tough. During his time at Seattle University, Michael worked with many small businesses in accounting and information technology departments to help them with automation. Michael was also a site project manager for community service projects involving more than 100 participants.
After graduation, Michael was hired by Intercosmos to develop accounting applications with open source software in New Orleans, Louisiana. The end-result was a financial reporting and fraud detection system covering 500,000 plus users. Additionally, Michael was responsible for project management and new developer training.
After two-years, Michael found a tougher challenge at Sunrise International Leasing Corporation outside of Minneapolis, Minnesota to turn a 500-page functional and technical specification into a complete leasing life-cycle application as the senior developer and project manager. Sadly, Sunrise was shortly thereafter placed up for sale and the project was never completed.
Never one to let negative events bother him for long, in November 2004, Michael returned Cannonbose to full-time operations. By staying true to his core competencies of open source software in regard to content, customer relationship, enterprise resource planning systems and delivering not just what clients want, but what they need, he has grown Cannonbose from himself to 3 design, 8 production, and 2 server teams within 2 years.
A Virgo Profiling
Virgo August 23 - September 22
In case your wondering, Cannonbose's president, Michael, is a number one Virgo Rat and he thought you might like to know a little more about his qualities as they apply to business and software development.
In the right situations Virgos love to work. They make ideal employees, happily working late into the night to make sure everything is perfect and in order. If you are looking for an employee who doesn't mind starting from rock bottom in the most entry level position at the company, hire a Virgo. They'll have no complaints about the position being beneath them. They are content with basic, honest hard work.
Their contentment isn't always apparent. They love to complain and worry. They are quick to criticize the way things are done around the office and are the first ones to grumble disapprovingly at what they consider to be extravagance or laziness.
They are blunt and honest and don't mince words over what they feel just isn't right. Usually, this will be brought on by someone doing a half baked job or not being considerate of other co workers. You'll want to constantly reassure them, but this will do little to quell their anxieties. They actually enjoy worrying, and there is little you can do about it. Just give them a detail oriented project and let them work alone on it. You won't have to supervise a Virgo worker. They'll check all the facts before getting started and catch their own errors when they are done.
To keep a Virgo employee happy, you should also make sure their environment is orderly and calm. You should also provide small gestures of appreciation. They don't need extravagance, just let them know you appreciate them in small ways that won't embarrass them. They will probably just shrug their shoulders and say, It's no big deal. Deep down inside they need these little reassurances.
Original author unknown, a special thank you to Elizabeth S. Melinda for bringing this to Cannonbose's attention.
