Hit the ESC button and erase that image from your brain. He smiles easily. He wears blue jeans and talks about golf. Conversations with him rarely venture into "bytes" and "hard drives." It is so easy to talk to Wayne Fulcher.

Actually, it's a good thing Fulcher has a soft manner and comfortable personality. It probably served him well that day in 1993 when he came home to his pregnant wife, Becky (they already had one child), and told her he was quitting his job writing computer programs to start his own company with two other guys.

Fulcher knew, as his wife knew, that this company was starting with no computers, no office, no phones, no sales staff . . . nothing. Nothing, that is, except good ideas. Good ideas don't pay bills.

"She, well . . . ," Fulcher says with a wide grin on his face, remembering that big announcement in the Fulcher household. "I know it was hard for her to understand at the time. I got a $4,000 loan for equipment and $1,000 to incorporate — that seemed like a lot of money."

Becky Fulcher's faith in Wayne has paid off. Along with partners Vince McGlaun and Anthony Jowers, Fulcher has built Digital Dimensions into a global competitor in the banking software automation field.

At the end of 1993, Digital Dimensions had a grand total of three customers. By November 2000, the company had gathered 163 customers — in 18 states and Jamaica. There are now 22 employees working feverishly in Digital Dimensions' ever-expanding office complex just outside of Augusta. Fulcher says that the company'sstaff should double over the next two years.

All of these impressive company statistics are dazzling when you consider Fulcher is only 30 years old. And even more impressive is the fact that Fulcher says he never even placed his fingers on a keyboard until he took a course in computer programming at Augusta Tech.

"I knew I wanted to do something with computers, but before I took that course at Augusta Tech in 1987, I had never even turned a computer on," Fulcher says.

Prior to graduation at Augusta Tech in 1989, Fulcher began working at a company near Augusta that is now a competitor with his own company.

"We [Fulcher, McGlaun, and Jowers] kept telling them there was a better way to do what they were doing," said Fulcher. "But nobody ever listened. So, we broke off on our own."

McGlaun, says Fulcher, had the contacts with banks throughout the state. Fulcher says he and Jowers had the programming know-how.

"Computer programming is like riding a bicycle," says Fulcher. "When I learned programming at Augusta Tech, I learned the language of programming. Although we now use different systems, it all involves the same language. A bike may have a different seat and different wheels, but riding it is the same. Programming is about the same thing."

Fulcher and Jowers were able to improve automated systems for banks to keep up with bank documentation required for deposits and loans. The benefit to the banks is less work in preparing documents and less paperwork for banks to file.

In addition, Digital Dimensions' particular specialty in banking software is the company's ability to easily adapt to changes in state and federal banking regulations. Fulcher says his company easily outdistances other software programmers in its ability to adjust programs to meet those regulations.

Fulcher maintains that Augusta Tech is still successfully training programmers. Digital Dimensions has had as many as 10 Augusta Tech graduates on staff since the company began operations.

"John Arena taught me when I was there, and I still talk to him occasionally," Fulcher says. "We get a lot of good employees from Augusta Tech. I know where those students are coming from. I don't know where I'd be if I hadn't taken those programming classes 13 years ago."