Before going freelance, Rob worked at the LA Times (1983-86), where he helped develop and manage the first electronic database of its newspaper. This work still forms the basis of the text retrieval system at www.latimes.com. He then moved to Northrop Corp. (1986-93), where he designed applications for departments such as finance, long-range planning, and the corporate secretary. Among his projects was a study proposing the consolidation of four division libraries into one. He was also assistant to the editor of a departmental newsletter.

Rob has an MBA and an MA in library science from the highly-ranked University of Chicago. He received his BA cum laude in mathematics from Occidental College and was elected to Phi Beta Kappa. Showing his diligence, he earned a perfect attendance award (among others) in high school.