Software Engineering a Better Life

Software Engineering a Better Life tells the improbable true story of how a young man's struggle to find his place in the world led to the stuff that dreams are made of. Dan Hansen's winding path from Staten Island to Silicon Valley includes stops along the way at SUNY Plattsburgh, Wall Street, the U.S. Army Field Artillery, West Point, The College of Staten Island, AT&T Bell Labs, and his own software company, Legend Software. This fascinating true story of an unfunded software startup's acquisition by Silicon Valley pioneer Network General is set against the backdrop of the 1980's, when MS-DOS was king and computer networking was still in its infancy.

Aided by a treasure trove of records stored in an attic for thirty years, the book brings to life a bygone technology era before the existence of smartphones, tablets, laptops, and the World Wide Web. Hansen takes you inside AT&T's famed Bell Laboratories, as the future of local area networking was taking shape, and relates how his experiences there spurred him to found his own startup.

This book relays events at a thirty year remove while capturing vivid details that make it seem as if it were recorded contemporaneously. Software Engineering a Better Life chronicles the triumphs and missteps of an unlikely entrepreneur as he struggles to keep moving forward.