I'm Tom Nguyen, and I was born and raised in Georgia. I received my Bachelor of Science degree in Economics/Math back in December 1998. What does that have to do with website design? Nothing really. I just wanted to give you a little info on me. If you want to know more, keep reading.

Why the name, Mr. Technique?

It's a long story, but I'll explain it since you're so curious. Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu is one of my hobbies. I started doing it back in 2000, and back then, fellow students used to say that I was strong. I disagreed with them. I kept telling them that I had "technique".

I always wanted to have a website of my own, but I didn’t know what to name it. One day, the name, mrechnique.com, came to mind. I checked to see if it was available. It was, so I registered the name immediately.

Website design as a hobby to a way to make a living

I purchased the name, but I still needed to learn how to design a website. I ended up buying some books and asked a web designer for some advice.

With my newfound knowledge, I was able to put together a basic looking website. I designed the website when I moved up to New York City for a few months. It was used as a personal website more than anything. At the time, my skills weren’t good enough to be a freelance website designer, but I kept dreaming of what life would be like if I did have the skills. I did impress a couple of people enough for them to pay me to do some website work for them.

I moved back home from New York City in Janurary 2003 for various reasons and worked a couple of full time jobs over the next few years – a job as a corrections officer and then as a recruiting assistant. I know these are two unrelated fields. During my free time, I kept learning more about website design. My skills improved and so did the number of my clients.

My last full-time job as a recruiting assistant was only a temporary job, so in May 2005, I was let go when my time was up. I didn’t feel like working for anybody, so I decided to give it a go on my own. Throughout the years, I’ve been lucky enough to accumulate clients through word of mouth and on the web.

What do I know about website design?

Here is what I work with on a day-to-day basis:

• Dreamweaver
• Photoshop
• PHP
• JavaScript

I spend an hour or two each day learning about my industry because I’m all about keeping up.

What elsd do I do in my free time?

If I’m not designing websites, I’m doing some personal training or training myself. I’ve done a few Pro Boxing and MMA matches, and both of those sports are hobbies of mine.

Sometimes, I like to donate or volunteer. In the past, I’ve donated a portion of my time and/or proceeds to the following organizations:

• Joel Osteen Ministries
• St. Jude’s Children Hospital
• Special Olympics
• Habitat for Humanity
• Alzheimer’s Foundation