My Skills Journey
Experience 1 - Beginning My Career
December 1980
This was the start of my professional journey. I joined United States Airforce and completed basic training at Lackland AFB in San Antonio, Texas. I was trained as a telecommunications specialist and learned about data systems and networking later in my career with the Airforce. I attended tech school at Keesler AFB in Biloxy, Mississippi graduating top of my class as honor grad. I was trained as a telecommunications specialist and learned about data systems and networking later in my career with the Airforce. My first duty station was in London England at RAF Uxbridge troubleshooting multiplexed communications systems. My next duty station was at Gunter AFS in Montgomery, Alabama. I worked at a mainframe computer center troubleshooting large Sperry/Univac, Honeywell and Burroughs systems.
Experience 2 - Growing Skills
December 1986
After discharging (honorable) from the Airforce, I went to work as a field service engineer for General DataComm. I worked in the field for 10 years installing and repairing datacomm systems manufactured by GDC. I traveled all over the Southeast US and worked with many different customers.I was promoted to the regional technical specialist for GDC and worked with the sales team to help close large contracts.I gained more experience by working on larger projects and became familiar with various tools and networking frameworks. As General DataComm expanded into a 3rd party service provider, my experience expanded into networking equipment manufacturers like Bay Networks and Cisco Networks during this period. In addition, it provided me with a tremendous amount of company sponsored training centered around networking and networking protocols.
Experience 3 - A New Challenge
November 1998
In 1998, I joined Nortel Networks as a Network Sales Engineer. I was able to lean on my strong experience in networking to provide field support for the data network sales team for the SouthEast. I started leading small teams and managing projects. It was a huge step up in my career that was cut short by the telecomm bust.
Experience 4 - Expanding Horizons
May 2002 - present
After a massive layoff within Nortel Networks, my career took a big turn where I landed back into the government sector. I essentially started over and went to work for the U.S. courts servicing and supporting their telecom, court PBX and A/V systems as the Circuit Telecom Manager. After years in this position, I moved into the networking group supporting the courts local and wide area networks, VMWare virtual server farm, email, and the court's nationally hosted services. I continued to grow and expand my knowledge of the court computer and network systems, and 20 years later I was promoted to head of the department as the Assistant Circuit Executive for IT. I have been in this position for around 4 years and have learned a lot about leadership, managing people, budgets and managing court projects. This broadened my perspective and introduced me to new cultures and ways of working.