I started working while I was in college, holding down as many as four jobs at one time while going to school full time. I spent three years as a custodian. Talk about a great job - it was no stress and very routine, quite different from the Computer Administration jobs I have had since college. I also did flight instruction for the University, set up computers and a computer network for the aviation department, and flew a jump plane (for skydivers) for Taylor Air Sports in Lancaster, Ohio. Of all the jobs I had, flying a plane and throwing skydivers out of it was definitely the most fun. Plus they actually paid me for it!
After graduating from Ohio University I started
working for Northern Telecom in Richardson, Texas. I
stayed with them for 16 months doing Unix Administration on HP and SUN
workstations. I then received a job offer from Nextel Communications in Columbus, Ohio. Nextel employed
me as a Network Administrator in charge of SUN workstations, the TCP/IP
network, and network connectivity for Columbus, Cincinnati, and Cleveland,
Ohio, along with Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania and occasionally Detroit and
Livonia, Michigan. While working at Nextel, I was promoted to a Senior
Unix Administrator, Senior Implementation Engineer, and then to a Senior
Manager of Fixed Network Equipment supporting 3 switches, 12 employees
(including 2 managers) and 700,000 customers.
In September 2005, Nextel merged with Sprint to become Sprint Nextel
Corporation and I continued to work for them as a manager. As a Senior
Manager, I was responsible for over 750,000 cellular subscribers who placed an
average of 125,000 minutes of phone calls and 350,000 minutes of dispatch calls
though my switches. I was responsible for over 1,250 cellular sites and
around $200 million in assets.
After 3 years of management, I became fed up with the politics involved in the
department and was able to get back into computer programming. I currently
develop internal tools for technical field departments. I've been enjoying
my technical days again and plan to stay for the foreseeable future.