IT Department Manager.JPG)
I've worked administrating servers & pc's for years. I've also worked with IT people of varying types. My favorite position is to manage an IT Department, complete with Help Desk support, inventory tracking, support, and network management, planning, and maintenance. I like to "be prepared" when various "things" come up that we need to address on the network.
Managing people is more rewarding than managing equipment. Hardware will just "do the job", but "people" do the job, and do it in a way that brings joy and satisfaction to the working environment, and to me. If folks are happy doing what they do, then they will do it wonderfully, and with great success.
I care about people and understand that they are vital to the growth, stability, and success of any business. Taking into consideration the major changes we've made in our society in the opposite direction, I think this is important to remember. You don't find that "perfect match" or "fit" in an employee by letting a computer or test battery make your decisions FOR YOU. You need to also take into the account the "human element". People are capable of so much more when you fuel their sense of accomplishment and dependability. It's a basic "golden rule" mentality. How would "you" like to be treated? Same scenario. Final word on that: people are a precious commodity - a valuable asset; don't take them for granted. Everybody is "not" replaceable, not really.
You'll find that I'm a good "team player" but more than that, I'm a "team builder". We all grow and learn to work together ... its the only way to make your job fun and productive. |
Network Documentation
This initially became a hobby of mine as I am very maticulous about documenting a PC or server when I build it. I want to be able to totally re-create a system, and duplicate it exactly, even down to the switch settings on the hardware, cards, and options. After being asked if I documented networks, this became a normal thing to go on-contract just to document the network server room and equipment for a company. I use Microsoft Excel and MSWord templates , making it easy for my customers to access this data and maintain these forms after I initially create them.
As an IT Manager I prepare "documentation" or tech manuals, for IT Departments to give new employees guidelines to follow. I also produce detailed records of equipment that we maintain and account for in our inventory. I lay out guidelines to follow, provide references for my staff to utilize to do their job, and I make sure they have the best resources available to them.
UNIX Server Admin 
I have worked with various flavors of UNIX, cutting my teeth on the"SCO-XENIX" version, originally the 1st to run on a PC platform. I've administered Solaris, AIX, HP-UX, SCO-UNIX, and various LINUX versions to include RedHat, SuSE, Caldera, Debian, the new Ubuntu, and Slackware.
I've worked with shell scripting in various forms to automate the various administrative processes of maintaining a UNIX or Linux system. I always take care of my customers. I believe in backups and in ensuring you can always recover. |
Your "IT Lab Rat" .JPG)
Let's face it, I'm a "technie"! I just LOVE gadgets! And THAT has helped me more than anything else, in this field. I want to "know" what a piece of equipment will do, how it does it, what various alternative applications to that hardware can be applied, and ... you get the idea!
I've been using the Palm Pilots since the original "Palm Pilot"! Now, a Treo user, I am a firm believer in mobile technology. I have a definite "knack" for troubleshooting Palm issues, and with discovering various ways to use them to their fullest potential.
In the same way, I can take a cellphone, and it's features, and figure out things it will do (or things that you can do with it) that others who sell it never dreamed of! I do this with just about everything!
My campsite sports a working telephone, able to make calls and receive them, an active Internet connection, email, etc., and all that you could possibly need to work remotely from your "tent"!
I understand FAX's, faxmodems, fax software, and peculiar hardware and it's configuration, and can quickly figure out the cause of a problem, and recommend a solution.
I'm the perfect "Lab Rat" because there's nothing I can't figure out ... and you need me! |
Windows Server Admin.JPG)
I started off with Windows NT BackOffice v3.51, working my way up to NT Server v4.0. I established multi-site platforms where a PDC at the home site mastered BDC's at the remote sites. When 2000 Server came out I got familiar with the various nuances of "active directory", and working with the administration of those servers.
I have specialized in domain user maintenance and management, profiles management, scripting, roaming, and remote users, etc.. I am one to "self-teach" and get up-to-speed on a subject quickly. Since no training was yet available, I was at least for a while, one of maybe three in the Austin area who could install and configure Microsoft's Proxy Server, when it first came out.
I have never been Microsoft Certified, and yet I understand a great deal of the Microsoft products. Additionally, I am a "whiz" with Microsoft Office products, and a "guru" with some of them! Often I will find myself teaching folks how to accomplish a particular task, only to have the support folks look on, surprised ... but interested!
I've worked with Microsoft products from MS-DOS 5.0 on up to the first Windows version, Windows for Workgroups, and the first releases of Windows 95. Migrating up to Windows 98se, then NT and finally Windows 2000 Professional, I'm now an "XP" man. Vista? Some horses are just not meant to ride. Not that I haven't worked with it, but I don't think it will be with us for long. (a new replacement's on the way) |
"Virtual Office" Guru .jpg)
I've worked with modems since 300baud was the standard, and 1200baud was "stepping out"! I remember when 2400baud was an adventure, and when I got my 9600baud USRobotic Courier modem, life changed for me!
Since then, I've become, over the years, somewhat of a "modem Guru". I've specialized in working with external modems, ISDN devices, PCMCIA-based modems, and cellular modems, often called "wireless air cards". I understand the difference between synchronous and asynchronous, DSR, DTS, DTR, CD, CTS, etc. and use this experience extensively in troubleshooting. .
I specialize in "remote connectivity", or the art of the "virtual office" ... working VPN in a "remote" status. My phone calls follow me on my notebook (if you call my office number) where I can receive and place regular telephone calls, transfer calls, host telephone conferences, and live video interviews. |
Experience is Irrelevant 
I've worked with so many systems, so many different types of software, and with so many different organizations, that experience has become irrelevant. I have the ability to remember what I've done, and to quickly ascertain how to do apply all of that knowledge to the current needs and situations.
Experience comes from time in doing a particular task. I have obtained most of my experience by "doing" the task as a contractor "for the first time" ... without prior experience! I am somehow able to sit down to the task and quickly get a handle on the situation. The skills that have made this feat possible keep growing with each new assignment I take on.
Oftentimes on an assignment, my time is spent helping those who have the certifications. You see they have the training, and they've passed the tests, but the understanding of what they're doing, or how to do it, is just not there. So "experience" has become an irrelevant term for me ... it has rarely been a needed component in the assignments I have completed. |
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Until the events of September 11th, when the senseless and ignorant side of human nature was shown in unwarranted acts on the lives and workplace of innocent individuals, "I" was a full-time, independent, Computer Consultant. I worked 3 to 6-month contracts for large fortune 500 companies like IBM, Motorola, FirstUSA/BankONE, Tivoli, to name a few. I loved my job! But then when 9-1-1 hit, everybody was getting laid off! IT folks were saying, "well, I'll just become a consultant!" to which my reply would be, "Uh, no! That's MY job." But it was no good ... they had to eat too! 
No, I didn't work on the Enterprise ... the pic you see here is an office complex where they designed the furniture to follow the Star Trek "scheme" of design. But rest assured, if they needed me on the Enterprise, I'd have volunteered! Can you imagine what I could learn working there? It'd be an adventure! 
I have put this website together to let you folks know that this "jack-of-all-trades" is definitely "out here", and ready to go to work for you ! In today's technology environment you need someone that has their "ear to the ground" on IT developments and the many changes in technology and where it is going. You want your investments to go far, and to provide you with good results, and you want to make informed choices that you will not later regret. For that, you need "me".
