I’m in my mid 20s now and I have managed to stick my fat thumb into a whole load of pies already… After I completed High School, I moved to Melbourne with ambitions of being a Graphic Designer. I studied Graphic Design at the Australian Academy of Design, during which time I did freelance design as a side income. I quickly realised that Graphic Design wasn’t going to be the career of my choice, I just didn’t like the client interaction. I personally found a majority of people didn’t actually want you to design a solution for them, they wanted you to create the finished art for a logo / brochure etc they already had in their head; and they only want that idea, nothing else, not even if it would be a better solution; and more profitable. I wanted to create solutions for people and it frustrated me constantly having to create what in my mind were sub-par solutions, merely because that is what they wanted…I know the customer is “always right”, but that’s not what I got into design to do.

During University, I started a part time business with a mate importing and distributing high end mountain bike components and frames. The business grew and grew and last year we were sitting pretty with sales increasing in excess of 200% regularly. We were getting to the breaking point of doing it full time, and with the continuing rise in sales I made the leap and started doing it full time. But this was possibly the worst timing in history, as about 1 month later the economic crisis hit and we got sent to the wall. Sales dropped dismally, while we copped it from the other side with surging increases in the cost of products with exchange rates and import costs soaring through the roof. I had to make the decision to no longer pursue that venture as a valid full time option anymore, which was sad as we had spent the 3 years prior doing a lot of work getting it to the stage it was. But unfortunately I’m not powerful enough to change world markets, so we dropped our higher ticket brands which we’re chewing up too much capital and have concentrated on making a highly efficient part time business dealing in high end small components. It’s going well and things are looking up again for it, but it will stay as a part-time venture for us, although we still deliver better sales, service and support than most of the big guys!

So with the need to wind XXIV back to part-time for it to survive and not wanting to pursue a career in design I was left to contemplate what exactly I wanted to do with my life. Thanks to a push from a special someone, the answer was right in front of me…the computer, my partner in crime for 16-18 hours a day! It was a perfect choice, I’m naturally very good with them, have good problem solving and creative skills (from design) and also have good communications and business skills (from running my own business). It was an option where I wasn’t throwing out all of my past education and experience, by actually taking elements from everything I have previously done to do something else at a very good level.

So here I am now, in 2009, working in IT as a Senior Systems Engineer. It’s the best change I have ever made in my life by far, I love the work, the people, the challenges and the opportunities. It is just a perfect match for me, the only down side is that I didn’t get into it earlier. As I don’t have a lot of direct IT experience and education (nothing formal anyway) I am on a war path this year to expand my technical knowledge as well as experience on the job. I am working towards getting my MCSE, CCNA and other certifications. I am also fortunate to have a fantastic job and employers which expose me to an extremely wide variety of technology, projects and responsibilities.

I would like to start getting into more business / project management after 1-2 years of coal face experience under my belt. I would like to start looking at a post-grad masters in IT and/or Business at some stage also. What happens beyond this, who knows…but I am certainly looking forward to what the future brings my way!

A little about my knowledge and skill sets:

Education

• Bachelor of Arts (Graphic Design) | Australian Academy of Design
• Higher School Certificate | The Scots School Albury

Technical Expertise

• Certifications
  • Microsoft Certified Systems Engineer / Microsoft Certified Systems Administrator (Messaging Specialist) / Microsoft Certified Professional:
    • 70-270: Installing and Administering Windows XP Pro
    • 70-284: Implementing and Managing Microsoft Exchange Server 2003
    • 70-290: Managing and Maintaining a Windows Server 2003 Environment
    • 70-291: Implementing, Managing, and Maintaining a Windows Server 2003 Network Infrastructure
    • 70-293: Planning and Maintaining a Windows Server 2003 Network Infrastructure
    • 70-294: Planning, Implementing, and Maintaining a Windows Server 2003 Active Directory Infrastructure
    • 70-297: Designing a Windows Server 2003 Active Directory and Network Infrastructure
  • EXIN
    • ITIL Foundations v3.0
• Operating Systems
  • Microsoft Windows 95/98/ME/2000/XP/Vista/7
    
  • Microsoft Windows Server 2000/2003/2008
  • Mac OS 8/9/X
  • Linux (Ubuntu)
• Hardware
  • Desktops, Workstations, Laptops, Servers, Networking Hardware (Billion, Netcomm, Netgear, Linksys), RAID, SCSI, Modems, Network Cards, CPUs, Cooling Systems, Motherboards and BIOS, Graphic Cards, Sound Cards, SATA, Storage Devices (HDD, CDROM, Zip Disk, USB Key), Printers, Scanners, Graphics Tablets.
• Software
  • MS Office Suite, Adobe Creative Suite, Norton, McAfee, Symantec, NOD32,  Acrobat, Quickbooks, MYOB, Skype, MS IIS Server, Active Directory
• Languages
  • HTML, CSS, JAVA, DHTML, ASP, PHP, Action Script (Flash)
• Network Protocols
  • LAN/WAN, TCP/IP, IPX/SPX, WINS, DNS, DCHP, POP3, SMTP, FTP, TELNET, VPN, ICMP, NAT, TFTP, Ethernet, Wireless
• Typing Speed
  • 71 WPM