 Wales wanted to participate in the online @-@ based entrepreneurial ventures which were increasingly popular and successful during the mid @-@ 1990s . His experience ( from gaming in his youth ) impressed on him the importance of networking . Wales was interested in computer science , experimenting with source code on the Internet and improving his skill at computer programming . In his spare time after work at Chicago Options Associates , Wales constructed his own web browser . While at the firm , he noted the successful 1995 initial public offering of Netscape Communications . 
