When he was in college, he worked for three years as the music director at a summer camp, Camp Capers. This is where he got the idea for Camp Half-Blood. His first full-time job was teaching middle school in New Braunfels, Texas. After that, his wife and him moved to San Francisco. He lived there for eight years and he taught at Presidio Hill School. Then he had two sons, Haley and Patrick, and they moved back home to San Antonio. he taught at Saint Mary’s Hall (English and social studies, grades 6-8) for six years, then stopped teaching to become a full-time writer. he taught mythology almost every year that he was a teacher.