I am a very detail oriented person. In order to get something right, you need to know how all the parts work.
More bioI started "working in IT" when I was a teenager, repairing personal computers for people where I grew up. It was the third job I took as a teen. The first two were in restaurants... Over the course of a year or so working in restaurants at near minimum wage circa 2002, I realized that this was a dead end for me long before many adults make the same realization. I possessed novice computer skills because I was into computer gaming; and when my computer broke, it was me that had to fix it in order to keep playing. I possessed novice networking skills... This was before the common availability of high-speed internet, and I lived in rural Willcox, AZ with an old copper phone wire that would only support 24-26 kbps of data transfer on a 56k dial-up modem. So when we played computer games back then; we lugged them around to LAN parties. Willcox Highschool from I believe 2002 to about 2006 that district employed a great man; Carlton "Mike" Wilson Jr. He worked as the systems/network administrator for the district, but also taught a computer class two periods of the school day. He was a great mentor to me and many students who went through his class. He was certified to teach the Cisco NetAcad courses for college credit at my high school... In a BIG way he was the person who started me on this path in a truly professional manner and he taught me many of the skills that served as a foundation for later in my career. Willcox Unified lost a priceless resource when they did not court him, and allowed him to leave for bigger and better things in his career.
Since that time I've worked for several companies over the last 10 years, and I'm sure that most of those who managed me were greatly impressed with my ability to own a project to completion regardless of my knowledge in the area ahead of the project. I have a technical mind, a natural knack for figuring out problems with machines and electronics... I believe this was instilled in me as a child by my father who is a GENIUS mechanic (not by trade, he was a Railroad Engineer for Southern Pacific and then later Northern Pacific railroads, but he obtained his degree from the University of Arizona as a Zoologist and for that reason had the scientific method impressed into the way he approaches ANY problem). For me, IT made sense. The problems weren't the same as with a mechanical system, but in my mind they work the same. Instead of a physical failure due to wear and tear on a component, the "physical" wear is something that breaks over time due to a feature update or security update. Components on computers burn out just like sensors in modern automobiles (which collect data for THEIR onboard computers...); just because something has failed doesn't mean it's time to replace it... but it takes someone knowledgeable in hardware to know when it IS time to replace it so you aren't "nickel and dimed" to death by expensive and increasingly unavailable parts with the added negative of potentially being unable to utilize innovative and cutting edge technologies and software in your environment. There are MANY software and service providers out there who offer services or products with very similar goals in mind, or items that are nearly identical to other leaders in the market. It can be very difficult for someone without the necessary technical skills to assess new tools and be able to apply them to your own business environment. I pride myself in being able to provide several cost-effective options and allowing a customer to make an informed decision on how they would want their business to evolve.
Thankfully the trend I have noticed is that if you are not a large enterprise operation, you can start outsourcing your infrastructure to cloud services like AWS at a rate that is much lower overall than an investment in new physical architecture for your business. Even large enterprises can explore the option of cloud infrastructure, but in many cases cloud infrastructure is billed according to how much it is used. The more load on those cloud based infrastructures, the higher the cost for that service. In many cases the higher the availability of your cloud based resources, the higher cost for that service as well.
My personal interests include working on classic cars, marksmanship based sports, hiking, the outdoors in general, spending time with my girlfriend and family, and my passion is paintball..
Check out my professional profile if you'd like more career specific information, http://www.linkedin.com/in/crtitusiii