During the summer of 1999, Jane Yeager Noel left her position as a Project Manager for DreamForge Intertainment, a computer game developer, to start her own business as a computer trainer and consultant. At first, the most difficult part of the job was finding a name for her new company. Computer Tutor? Software Made Sensible? By consensus of family and friends, Computers Made Easy was the choice. (That is why, although our company no longer offers training services, it retains its original name of Computers Made Easy, Inc.)

Jane’s philosophy was simple: we’ll come to you and teach you what you need to know. Home or business, Jane began to provide on-site training tailored to the needs of the customer. The approach proved popular, and by the summer of 2001, Computers Made Easy had over 100 customers, a list that continues to grow week by week. These included home users from 16 to 80+ years old and a variety of businesses, from a label manufacturing facility to a machine shop, a home inspector, an infrared photography service, a printer, a funeral home, and a construction company.

To meet this mix of needs, Jane offered a variety of services. Besides being certified as a Microsoft Office User Specialist in Word, Excel, and PowerPoint, she was ready to train anyone in Windows and Computer Basics, Internet and Email, FrontPage and Photoshop, as well as Scanning and Digital Photography.

Classrooms too found a need for Jane’s ability to “make computers easy,” and she has taught in more traditional classroom settings, from the Art Institute of Pittsburgh to the Community College of Allegheny County. Basic courses, free to the public, are scheduled on a regular basis at the Norwin Public Library in Irwin.

In June of 2001, Computers Made Easy grew by one employee. Jane’s husband Scot was persuaded to leave his position as a Project Manager of computer games to join his wife at Computers Made Easy. Scot brings computer knowledge, management expertise, and writing skills to the table. He has led multi-million dollar projects both as Director of Operations and Planning at Westmoreland County Transit Authority and for DreamForge Intertainment as Project Manager. While at DreamForge, two of his games (Anvil of Dawn and Sanitarium) were honored by the industry as Games of the year. He is an award-winning writer who was honored in 1990 as one of the Writers of the Future.

In time Jane designed her own web page, a rich site boasting a wide variety of hints, tips, and links to useful locations. Computers Made Easy went on to offer Web Design and Web Hosting as yet another service.  In 2002, Scot and Jane developed InWestmoreland.com, a directory of Westmoreland County businesses, services, and events designed to help Westmoreland County consumers find local businesses and services online.  In 2004, Inspiring Times magazine partnered with InWestmoreland to become Inspiring Times InWestmoreland and the an online version of the magazine was added to InWestmoreland.  With over 1,000 pages, InWestmoreland lists hundreds of businesses and services, a community calendar, local links, Great Places articles, and more.  Between 60,000 and 80,000 online pages are viewed each month.

Along with capabilities and customers, Computer Made Easy’s contacts in the community began to grow as well. Computers Made Easy became a member of the Norwin Chamber of Commerce, the Laurel Highlands Chamber of Commerce, the Laurel Highland Visitor's Bureau, the InWestmoreland Networkers, the WBRA (Westmoreland Business Referral Association), and the BPW (Business and Professional Women, Greensburg Chapter).

The husband and wife team at Computers made easy brings a combined 28 years of computer experience to computer training throughout most of Westmoreland County, including Greensburg, Jeannette, Irwin, and Latrobe. Both Jane and Scot are adept at the software they teach and have managed extensive software development projects themselves, making them familiar with the concerns of business owners.

Web development customers range from small informational sites to large, database-driven e-commerce sites.  We work with local customers from Westmoreland County (Greensburg, Irwin, North Huntingdon, Latrobe, Ligonier, Murrysville, Trafford, Harrison City, Penn Township, Mount Pleasant, Scottdale), Pittsburgh and Allegheny County ( McKeesport, Monroeville, Turtle Creek, Pittsburgh, North Hills), Ohio and as far as Massachusetts.

As Computers Made Easy continues to grow, they find their work both challenging and fulfilling.

Jane Noel's Biography

Jane Yeager Noel, the co-owner of Computers Made Easy has been working professionally with computers since 1987.

She started as a traditional layout artist, graduating from the Art Institute of Pittsburgh and Point Park College. She got into computers as an Art Director and Project Manager for DreamForge Intertainment. Jane has credits on twenty different game titles. During her 10 years at DreamForge, she gained a wide variety of technical, training, and communication skills while working to grow the company and to develop entertainment software in cooperation with such well-known publishing houses as Disney Interactive.

By Mark Zingarelli
House of Zing

Scot Noel's Biography

Scot M. Noel brings computer knowledge, management expertise, and writing skills to Computers Made Easy. Scot has enjoyed working with computers since the days of the Commodore 64 home computer.

Today Scot spends most of his time preparing search engine optimized text for the website-design portion of the business.

Professionally, Scot has led multi-million dollar projects both as Director of Operations and Planning at Westmoreland Transit and for DreamForge Intertainment--a computer game developer-- as Project Manager. While at DreamForge, two of his games (Anvil of Dawn and Sanitarium) were honored by the industry as Games of the Year.

By Mark Zingarelli
House of Zing