Bill Houser
Bill is a 25+ year veteran truck driver. He’s driven for many OTR companies as well as a few local to Fort Wayne, Indiana where he currently resides. Some of the companies Bill has driven for include: Cannon Express, out of Springdale Arkansas; Carco Carriers Corporation, out of Fort Smith, Arkansas; GSTC, out of Wolford, Iowa; Wenger Truck Lines, out of Davenport Iowa; US Xpress, out of Chattanooga, Tennessee; TRM, out of Fort Wayne, Indiana; CMA Supply, out of Fort Wayne, Indiana; Scott Hull Trucking, out of South Whitley, Indiana; and Reilley Trucking, out of Fort Wayne, Indiana. Bill also drove truck as part of his duties during his service in the US Army.
Bill’s experience has included dry van, refrigerated, as well as flatbed, roll-off, and tanker. Bill also has experience with all kinds of dump trailers as well. Bill’s current job is a combination of dry-van, dump, and roll-off.
Bill’s career began in the early 90’s shortly after being discharged from the Army. Which essentially makes up the bulk of his adult life. Although he’s tried other career paths, he admits he always feels the pull of the trucking industry.
In 2002, Bill decided to go back to school where he achieved a Bachelors degree in Public and Environmental Affairs from Indiana University, as well as an Associates degree in Computer Systems Administration from IVY Tech Community College. He would tell you that although neither degree is relevant to his career, the experience of learning and new ideas opened his mind to a more robust understanding of the world and where he fits into it.
Bill is twice married with two children from the first marriage; William IV – 29, and Dylan James – 27, as well as three children with his current (and future) wife Amanda Houser; Aiden – 15, Landon – 13, and Talisa Rose – 10. Being a father has also been part of what has defined Bill’s entire adult life.
Bill has two other podcasts, including Linux OTC, and mintCast. Bill started his podcasting “career” in 2021 when he was invited to be a new host on mintCast, which is a Tech podcast with a focus on the Linux operating system. Topics on mintCast include software, hardware, as well as general discussions relating to development in the opensource computing world. After about a year of doing both mintCast and 3FT, Bill decided to start his own Linux podcast named Linux OTC. The OTC stands for “Off The Cuff.” One of the things about mintCast he imagined he would like to add to was the wrote reading of show notes. Most of the show is the hosts literally reading entire articles from Linux news as well as from the greater tech world. Which is important because there is clearly an audience for that. Bill recognized the need for perhaps a new show where the content is completely un-scripted. Often the co-hosts aren’t even aware of the content until the day of the show. Linux OTC was born, and was a nearly instant success. So now there is three shows you can catch Bill on. Bill would tell you that podcasting has been the single most transformative experience of his life.
