Matching human processes with electronic processes fascinates Justin Porter. As an application designer, he interacts with computers all day and seeks technological ways to enhance what people can already do. His weapon? The i. His challenge to the i world? Strut.

Porter's story began when life threw him a cantaloupe 26 years ago as he was born into a farming life near the one-stoplight town of Dos Palos, California. Life tossed him a computer along the way too. He broke the family IBM PC while playing games but taught himself how to fix it. He hung out at computer labs and later provided tech support to a local ISP and the school district.

Porter parlayed his experience into a job as the director of technology for Westside Produce, a company in tiny, nearby Firebaugh, California, that cools and ships 40 million honeydews and cantaloupes (including those grown by the Porter family and other local farmers) annually.

He first heard about IBM i in 2003 (he was a student at the University of California-Davis then) when Westside hired him to work during the summer in its shipping department. "In the beginning I thought the company was stuck in the DOS Stone Age, and I wondered why they were using this legacy technology. It didn't take long for me to change my tune, though. The i technology itself is so flexible in what you can do with it. It works!" he says.

"I honestly don't turn it off unless I want to, and that's my biggest selling point," Porter continues. "What always annoyed me about other servers was that they sometimes just needed to be shut down and rebooted in order to restart regular operations. Putting up with random problems on a server without sufficient solutions is not an efficient way to run a business. There's always an answer on this box when running IBM i. I like knowing that I can trust the stability of what I am working on. My software runs. I don't have to worry about the databases. It's a secure and stable operating platform. It sustains itself. It's an awe-inspiring thing. I can do whatever I want, and the system won't go down as a result."

Armed with the i, Porter sees his responsibilities as promoting the technology industry, helping new companies, and encouraging other i folks--young and old--to do the same.

"IBM has put a ton of resources and effort into getting into universities and colleges and hammering in on engineering departments to recruit young people to this platform," Porter says. "The real turning point, and the point at which my age group is going to really embrace the system, is when the rest of the community does too. We need to challenge ourselves to do as much as we have challenged IBM to do."

Porter found a niche in the Young i Professionals (YiPs) organization promoted by COMMON and has been a leader in the creation of a website (youngiprofessionals.com) aimed at bringing more professionals to the platform and extending networking resources to those already on board.

The project also includes a wiki, a PHP bulletin board, a resource dump for posting business problems and solution sets, news about upcoming events and member accomplishments, and links to i publications. YiPs is initiating an open-source venture to build an interface to work with a Subversion (SVN) repository running on the i as well.

Porter also serves on the COMMON Americas Advisory Council (CAAC), which provides a link between the business needs of COMMON members and various IBM development teams. The CAAC also promotes the i and explores how the marketing world reacts to IBM's strategic directions. He hopes to write articles about the system and the ways in which others can indeed strut its stuff.

It makes sense that human interactions with computers occupy his mind as he pursues an MBA, driving two hours back and forth to take courses at Santa Clara University in the heart of California's Silicon Valley. Although many of his classmates are pursuing the degree to move to a new career track, Porter says he's on a different path. "I'm looking to enhance myself in my current position and maybe pursuing marketing. I like talking to people, and I like writing ads."

Westside Produce, with its small staff, offers him the opportunity to dig his head into a little bit of everything. For eight months of the year, he and his colleagues work in a flexible, relaxed environment. During the four-month packing and shipping season, however, the ranks swell to more than 800 employees who tackle 12-hour days seven days a week.

He still enjoys playing the games that broke his family's PC and is an Xbox devotee. "I'm a lake bum too. I'm in a fantastic spot for hitting the ski slopes in the winter and wakeboarding in the summer," he says.

"It's an interesting ride," Porter reports, referring to his professional rather than his outdoor pursuits. "I'm just trying to hang on."

Justin Porter

What would you do if you weren't an IT director?

Something that would put me on the road a lot. I enjoy traveling, and at this stage in my life, I'm geared and ready.