CDCMastery: A Goodbye

More than a decade ago, I found myself frustrated at the lack of study options available while progressing through my Career Development Courses (CDC). The first option was an in-house study program clinging to life on the network share drive, providing users with grossly outdated study materials and yet another excuse for supervision to keep you at the shop. If you had some cash to spare, paid options were available. But, after all alcohol and food delivery has been considered, what fresh Airman has money left over for frivolous things like “studying”? Certainly not me. What I did have, though, was plenty of time.

My position prior to entering the Air Force allowed for the development of basic programming skills, which I used to build a prototype of the testing system. After smoothing out a few rough edges, the first version of the website was launched in February of 2012. I branched the site out into other AFSCs, typically by copy/pasting individual questions and answers from PDF files. Over the years, I refreshed and updated the code, adding features like flash cards and practice tests. It served as one way for me to improve my skill set while simultaneously providing other Airmen a viable alternative for test preparation.

As of this writing, 42,000 users have taken nearly 750,000 tests and answered 77,000,000 questions. Wow! Ten years ago, I could never have imagined how much it would grow. I cannot thank all of you enough for your support over the years, and I will always cherish my experience developing this project.

Regretfully, the time has come for the site to retire. I no longer have the time necessary to maintain the application, and more importantly, the support requests. Starting now, user account creation will be disabled. The site will continue to function normally until December 31, 2024 at 11:59 PM, when it will shut down for the final time.

Your Benevolent Dictator,

Claude Bing
me@claudebing.com
https://github.com/meinemitternacht/cdcmastery

CDCMastery

cdcmastery-com

CDCMastery is a studying tool for Air Force airmen who are learning about their career field.  I built the site from scratch in February 2012, and it has been growing ever since.  The studying platform of the application is centered around multiple-choice practice tests with a supporting MySQL database.  Currently, I am in the process of rewriting the entire site to implement an object-oriented architecture to simplify development and make the code more efficient.

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VirginiaBeach.com

virginiabeach.com Screenshot

 

VirginiaBeach.com has been a web presence since 1996, though it has had many iterations over the years.  I met Steve Jones (the founder) while I worked at Cybernetics in Yorktown, VA in 2010.  A few months before joining the Air Force in February 2011, I developed a custom Pay-Per-Click and Tourist Database engine for the site.  Ever since, I have worked with him to continually develop the site and ensuring it remains relevant to visitors.

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Water for the Oppressed

wfto.cc Screenshot

Water for the Oppressed (WFTO) is a faith based organization that provides clean water to the impoverished people of Zambia, Africa. WFTO drills new water wells, repairs broken hand pumps, teaches a health and hygiene curriculum, and shares the Gospel through Word and deed.

This organization was founded by my parents, C.W. and Leslie Bing in 2005.  I have worked with them since the beginning providing web design, e-mail server administration, software development, photography, and graphic design services.

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Starting a new blog.

Well, friends, it has certainly been a long time since I have written anything new on my site, and I am starting fresh.  Usually, I shy away from WordPress in favor of Drupal, but for a simple blog it makes the process painless.

Over time I will add information about the projects I am working on, as well as my experiences maintaining several servers running everything from a LEMP stack to mail services!