About Me

My name is Brian Barthel, and I run Zoasoft, LLC. An engineer by training, I graduated top of my class from Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology with a BS in Computer Engineering. (Never heard of Rose-Hulman? Its a small top-rated engineering college located in Indiana.)

Despite my training in the nuts and bolts of computer hardware, the software that ran on top of it was what caught my imagination. A student internship as a developer at Expedia.com solidified my interest in the possibilities of software. After completing my degree I headed off to Washington DC where I worked on a variety of interesting and challenging projects, including web-based collaboration using Semantic Web technologies, model creation and optimization software, and mod-sim training tools.

After 8 years of successful software development and management experience, and numerous awards at each of the companies I worked for, I realized that I needed something more. I needed to be able to offer customers the best software possible, without worrying about whether the clients needs aligned with my employer's "corporate mission". I needed the freedom to work with customers as equal partners. I needed to strike out on my own, so I created Zoasoft to do just that.

Zoasoft, LLC

Zoasoft, LLC was born of the idea that software consulting and contracting does not have to be an adversarial relationship between the developers and their customers. I believed that there could be a better way, where clients and developers could work together to solve problems and improve productivity.

But Why "Zoasoft"?

The name Zoasoft comes from a combination of "Protozoan Software". Protozoa (from the greek "proton" and "zoa" - literally "first animal") was the name I chose for the first computer I bought for myself. Since then, all of my computer names have included "zoa" as a tribute to the computer that first started me on this road. When I decided to start my own company it seemed only natural that I include "zoa" in its name. Once I made that decision, "Zoasoft" was the natural result.