Hi, my name is on my banner.
That is about all you need to know about me. Thank you for visiting my page.
Since you are still here and this is the About Me page, I will share more about me, even though most of it is duplicated from other pages.
Introduction
Watch my 1-minute video titled “Hello world, hear me yell NOT TODAY!” Alternately, you can watch, like, and share the video on TikTok.
Script
Hi, my name is on my banner and I’m a software engineer on disability, but I’m on a mission to get a job and go off of disability.
My banner reminds me to keep fighting no matter how many times I get knocked down and feel like quitting. And I’ve been knocked down a whole lot while pursuing my mission. Since I hung my banner last May, I’ve been rejected so many times that it feels like I’ve been playing 1-on-1 with LeBron James. But I have not quit, and this is how I keep picking myself back up to fight again.
I start every morning by looking at my banner and saying “Not today.” But the best part of my day is after I’ve worked hard on my mission, then I kick my ass until I finish my workout, and then I get to say it like “NOT TODAY!!!!” because I DID NOT QUIT today! Thank you.
I Do 3 Things, Times 2, Plus 1
In addition to writing books, I also write software and make art. Sometimes I even write software so I can make art, such as my Puzzle Box project. I also run, bike, and swim to train for my other mission of competing in triathlons again. However, more than anything, I like to solve problems.
I also do many other things, but the one thing I do not do is QUIT.
Author Biography
This was written for my author bio page at Feathered Quill: https://featheredquill.com/author-bios-doug-osborne/
A decorated mathlete in high school, Doug Osborne hated writing so much that he failed to graduate with his class in 2000. Ten years later, Doug could finally realize his full potential after being diagnosed with ADHD and autism spectrum disorder. Doug then built a distinguished career as a software engineer and leading expert in the field of Electronic Discovery before depression grounded his life to a halt in 2016.
Due to his depression and other diagnoses, Osborne went on Social Security Disability Insurance in 2018. In 2021, Doug decided to stop being disabled and began his mission of getting a job and going off disability. In 2022, he hung a banner outside his house to “remind me to keep fighting no matter how many times I get knocked down and feel like quitting.” In 2023, he wrote an inspirational memoir about his banner and mission.
Doug Osborne Does Not Quit is named after the words on Doug’s banner. It shares many of his accomplishments since 2021, although these have yet to include completing his mission. Doug’s mission has since expanded to include making a positive impact in this world, whether that involves writing software, books, or whatever else it takes. Doug says he will never quit fighting for his mission, but admits he has been knocked down far more times than he ever imagined.
Doug is currently fighting to finish his original mission so he can write the ending to his book’s sequel, Not Today! “Not Today” is what Doug says to his banner twice a day: quietly as his morning prayer, and after working hard on his mission, with authority, because he did not quit today!
According to Doug, “Doug Osborne Does Not Quit is about believing in yourself, while Not Today! will be about trying and failing over and over and over again until you finally succeed.”
Professional Background
This is from the page My Professional Background.
I grew up in West Hartford, CT. I was a math prodigy in high school and was voted most likely to win the Nobel Prize for the Hall High School class of 2000, even though I didn’t actually graduate with that class. I ended up getting my GED and going to college for half a semester. Then I started working and found that I did a whole lot better when I didn’t have to do any homework. Later in life I was diagnosed with ADHD, and now I can do things that held me back in school, like read a book.
My first job was with IKON Office Solutions, where I started at the bottom and was promoted 5 times in 5 years, and I moved to Philadelphia for one of those promotions. While I wrote a lot of software for IKON, I didn’t become a full-time software engineer until 2008 when I went to work for Digital Legal Services. In my first year at DLS, I was working out of their Wilmington, DE office and I wrote Electronic Discovery processing software that saved them $200,000 a year in licensing costs. This was also roughly the first 20,000 lines of code of what later became Minify, and I wrote the other 200,000 lines after moving back to CT and working for DLS from my home.
This period of four years when I was working from home was the most productive of my life, both professionally and personally. I got into outstanding physical condition, peaking in 2012, the year that I did 4 triathlons, 4 road races, and a 103 mile charity bike ride.
2013 wasn’t as good a year for me. I was signed up for a full ironman, but at the start of the year, Minify, LLC was formed to market my eDiscovery software. I was a partner in Minify, so I decided to give up my ironman training to put everything I had into my startup. Unfortunately, Minify started going downhill when one of the majority partners basically tried to kick the other one out and take full control of Minify. I stayed on for a few months, but I didn’t feel optimistic about the startup so I moved to Chicago and went to work for our top competitor, Relativity.
Relativity was a really fun place to work and I did very well there, but I wasn’t happy in Chicago. I didn’t like living in the city again, and after working from home for 4 years, I didn’t adjust well to going back to an office. I was making pretty good money but I was sleeping on an air mattress and I had a couch made out of moving boxes.
After a year at Relativity, the owners of Minify and DLS had split and I went back to work for one of them, Ed. Ed got ownership of the Digital Legal Wilmington office, which he renamed to “DLS Discovery”, but it was the other guy who got ownership of Minify, LLC. Working for Ed from Chicago, I supported Minify for in-house use while I was working on a complete rewrite for a proposed startup software company.
While I was interested in the engineering and architectural aspect of the rewrite, I missed working with other talented software engineers and it was a lot harder for me to get into rewriting 200,000 lines of code completely on my own. So I left DLS Discovery after about a year. I had also become depressed in Chicago because I had lost interest in writing eDiscovery software but I also wasn’t ready to give up on my life’s work and start over in another industry.
As for the rest, I would say that I could write a book about it, but I already have. However, if you want to read more, the story continues at Doug Osborne DOES NOT QUIT.
Or, since this is the About Me page and not My Professional Background, you can read my original banner story below.
Doug Osborne DOES NOT QUIT
The original story behind my banner, also on its own page: Doug Osborne DOES NOT QUIT.
The Story Behind My Banner (2022)
I’m a very talented and experienced software engineer who once had a successful career (see: Background), but I became depressed after leaving my startup company and moving to Chicago at the end of 2013. As a result of this depression, I haven’t been employed since 2016 and I’ve been on Social Security Disability Insurance since 2018.
Since going on disability, I’ve pursued my own unique software projects with the idea that eventually one of them would lead to my success again. While I’m proud of these projects shown on my portfolio, 2020 was a low point for me because they hadn’t led to anything yet and I was running out of ideas and motivation to write software on my own.
So in 2021, I went on a mission to get a position at a company where I can make a difference solving problems again. While I’ve worked very hard towards this goal ever since, it’s taken a lot longer than I thought it would. The day after I submitted my first job applications in over 7 years, my landlord told me that I had to either buy his house or vacate his property in less than one month. While I nearly got the best paying job of my life from my very first application, instead I had to postpone my job search to find another place to live.
Since then, I’ve accomplished a lot along my path towards applying for jobs again. I successfully defended myself in an eviction lawsuit, and I bought my first house, a four-season vacation home in Summit, NY. I fulfilled a commitment I made to a friend by writing the Puzzle Box software featured on this website. I used this software to make my mother a 120-piece painted Christmas Tree Box and my brother a 108-piece wood-stained Sphere Box. I’ve gotten back into shape and have run over 500 miles and lost 30 pounds since moving here.
I resumed applying for jobs earlier this year, but I took a break to make my brother’s sphere box after only about 10 applications and one interview. Afterwards, I was feeling a bit down because for all that I had accomplished since 2021, I still hadn’t completed my mission. So I started thinking about the best year of my life and the Doug Osborne that I’ve worked very hard to become again.
2012 was the peak of my life. That year, I was at my best professionally working from my home in Woodbury, CT. This was the year that Minify, LLC was conceived, a company started in 2013 to market and sell the eDiscovery software that I wrote for Digital Legal Services. This was also the year that I did 4 triathlons, 4 road races, and a 103-mile charity bike ride.
My first race that year was just over ten years ago, when I won this medal on a 90-degree day in May when a lot of other people were quitting:
Thinking about this race and others that year, I remembered how I was able to push myself harder than anyone else, all the way to the finish line. Any time I thought about quitting, I told myself that “Doug Osborne DOES NOT QUIT.”
This phrase has become the title of my personal redemption story because in December 2020, I was a shell of my former self and nearly quit trying to do anything about it. It’s also the only rule that I have to and will continue to follow to keep myself hitting the apply button so I can finally finish this journey that I started over a year ago.
In case I ever have doubts and think about quitting, the following banner will remain outside my house for the world to see until I cross the finish line that I’ve fought long and hard to reach.
I start every morning by looking at my banner and saying “not today.” But the best part of my day is after I’ve worked hard on my mission and then kick my ass until I finish my workout, and then I get to say it like “NOT TODAY!!!” because I DID NOT QUIT today. Now I even have a NOT TODAY! sign out by my mailbox:
It will be the best feeling ever when I finally complete my mission and I get to hang an even bigger banner with the same words and my next company logo on it. Then I get to start a new mission, because I’ve promised myself that I WILL NOT QUIT until I’ve made an impact wherever I end up working next.
New Year’s 2023 Update
I plan to yell “NOT TODAY!” 365 times in 2023, because I don’t plan to quit fighting any of them days. Watch my first “NOT TODAY!!!” of 2023: NOTTODAY_NewYears2023
My New Year’s resolution is to keep fighting no matter how many times I get knocked down and feel like quitting. In 2022, I was knocked down a whole lot while pursuing last year’s resolution of getting a remote software engineering position and going off of disability.
Since I hung my banner last May, I’ve been rejected so many times that it feels like I’ve been playing 1-on-1 with LeBron James. I suspect I was being turned down because I haven’t been employed since 2016 and/or I am on disability, because I can count on one hand how many times I was rejected before I began my mission.
With everything else I’ve accomplished since 2021, I earned the respect of many nice people who now support me on my mission, while I can tell that others won’t believe in me until I finally succeed. Unfortunately, people in the latter category can make it so much harder for a poor guy on disability fighting for a second chance at life.
Conversely, I am extremely grateful for everyone who has supported me, many of whom can’t believe that no one has hired me yet. This includes many of my new neighbors around Bear Gulch Lake in Summit, NY.
Over the holidays, I took a break from applying for jobs to make gifts for as many of my supporters as I could.
I have even inspired a few of my supporters who have told me they are glad to have met me. Of all of my recent accomplishments, this is the achievement that I am most proud of, because my personal redemption story is not just about becoming successful again, it is about becoming a better person.
I look forward to proving everyone who has doubted me wrong by proving my supporters and whoever finally gives me that second chance right.
I Believe (Fall 2023)
For my 42nd birthday, I’m sharing a video because Coach Prime gave me the gift of a title for my third book, Do You Believe Now?
My first book, Doug Osborne Does Not Quit, covers the start of my mission of getting a job and going off disability. The sequel, Not Today!, will conclude with its successful completion. That should have happened long ago, but I am still fighting. In 2021, I nearly ended it with my first job application since 2013. In 2022, I applied for hundreds of jobs and interviewed with dozens of companies.
The memories of last year’s interviews are still fresh in my mind. A lot of companies passed on a great opportunity to get a very talented and determined software engineer and problem solver. Many recognized the talent but lacked the vision or courage to hire me, likely because I’m “different” and I’m on disability. Although most people say they believe in giving people second chances, few are willing to put their money where their mouth is.
This year, I took a longer-than-expected diversion to explore other ways to complete my mission, which included writing and promoting my book along with my art.
While it was time well-spent, I’ve been working hard lately to prepare to bomb that apply button again. I am excited to share my new resume and my redesigned website. However, I still expect to fail many more times before I succeed. When I finally do cross the finish line, it will be the end of a long and hard-fought battle, but just the beginning of a war that could last for decades.
Do You Believe Now? will chronicle the fight for my future success. I will begin the road to success by doing whatever it takes to make an impact for my next company. Although my banner is enough motivation, I will be thankful to everyone who rejected me for giving me more reasons to keep fighting throughout my second career.
Because like Deion Sanders, I have complete faith in my abilities and “I keep receipts.” It might be 10+ years from now, but I look forward to sharing my receipts. I expect to send out many free copies of Do You Believe Now? both to those who believed, and to those who did not believe. For now, it is time to finally reach the real-life ending of Not Today!
Who else believes?
I’ve Got the Fire (Spring 2024)
Think you’ve got the fire? Watch me suffer through the end of a 60-minute, 150°F(!!) “Fire Bike” workout. Then hear me yell “NOT TODAY!!!” because I did not quit despite the agonizing heat.
As I say in the video, don’t try this at home. I conquered many “lesser” Fire Bike workouts before this March 28th recording: my 67th and possibly the hardest, although it wasn’t planned in advance.
When I started riding my indoor bike trainer in front of a fire on January 5th, I didn’t expect to workout in 100 degrees, let alone 150. I started tracking the temperatures in February, initially out of curiosity. Back then, 88 degrees felt hot enough for me. But I kept challenging myself while testing my physical limits. By the end of February, I had hit 115 degrees, although I still couldn’t imagine I could survive 150°F.
March 2024 held a special meaning for me, being NOT TODAY! month in the 2024 Bear Gulch Lake Association calendar.
I chose to make NOT TODAY! month about yelling “NOT TODAY!”, which is most satisfying after my hardest workouts. During March, I fought through so many of my hardest workouts that they gave new meaning to the phrase “kick my ass until I finish my workout.” As a result, not only did I reach previously unimaginable temperatures, but I also doubled the length of my workouts, gradually increasing from 30 to 60 minutes on the Fire Bike.
Why did I do it (besides getting to yell “NOT TODAY!”)? The answer is simple: Because I can. A year after writing a book that “will motivate and inspire you to stop saying you can’t and to believe that you can” (Readers’ Favorite), I found out that I can survive a max effort bike workout in 150-degree heat. What else can I do?
I’m just an ordinary athlete, but I’ve been blessed with far from ordinary mental abilities that have made a major impact where I’ve worked. Sadly, it feels like these are being wasted as I’ve spent years trying to resume a once successful career.
I hope some prospective employer watches my video, checks out my website, and recognizes what I have known since I hung my banner: that I can do almost anything I put my mind to, and that I am a valuable asset to any company.
When I get the chance to use my talents professionally again, I am going to fight every bit as hard as I fought during my Fire Bike workouts. I have no doubt that I can achieve the extraordinary once again. However, the question remains: who has the vision and courage to hire me and watch me succeed?
All I know for sure is that I have got the fire, it is raging hot, and I can’t wait to unleash it to the benefit of my next employer.
For further inspiration, check out Doug Osborne Does Not Quit: The Book.
NOT TODAY!
Do You Believe Now?
My first book covers 2021 and the start of my mission of getting a job and going off disability. I am currently working hard to complete my mission so I can write the ending to the sequel, Not Today!
Doug Osborne Does Not Quit is about believing in yourself, while Not Today! will be about trying and failing over and over and over again until you finally succeed.
Do You Believe Now? (title inspired by Coach Prime) will conclude the trilogy, and will be about the fight for my future success. I will begin the road to success by doing whatever it takes to make an impact for my next company.
NOT TODAY!
Want to be a part of my upcoming books, Not Today! and Do You Believe Now? Check out my resume and software page, and feel free to contact me at DougO1081@gmail.com.
