I spent seven years as the Head of Technical Support at a regional ISP and three more as a "Systems Analyst" at one of the first municipally owned fiber rings in the country, also assisting City IT whenever needed. "Systems Analyst" is in quotes because that's just what it said on my business card. It was a six-week temp gig that I parlayed into eight weeks, "I need a week to let people in other departments get to know me before I march into their offices and start doing stuff to their computers...that and figure out where the bathrooms are. And a week to finish anything still hanging fire.". A year into the "two month temp" gig, I had business cards! After about three years, my broad skillset became less important than their need for someone with more in-depth networking. I moved on and opened my own ISP and computer repair shop with my cousin. We were both good with customers and we split the support duties according to skill. Neither of us, however, was great at business and we opened our doors on the eve of The Great Recession, neither of us had the business acumen to bail when it hit or to see us through it. We managed, with a little help, to escape debt-free, but that was our biggest accomplishment.

Just as that chapter was closing, I moved on to selling holiday fruit baskets for a large company that happens to be based in my region. I was good at it. I spent the next six years training, coaching and managing teams of sales people there. I chased around utilizing those skills locally for four more years.

TODAY: I am circling back to tech. I am a very skilled salesman, sales trainer, sales manager, and it is FUN to do anything where you have a high level of skill. But I was also very skilled at tech support, troubleshooting, and repair. Tech support has the Customer Service / Sales component, but meshed with Playing With Computers For A Living. That's a draw. And it has drawn me back. I am looking for work in the tech field while I learn what has happened in the world of HTML and CSS during the ten years I was away, and adding JavaScript, and eventually, a front-end full stack (although I have Python in my head like a song that won't go away, so whether I pick that up as a hobby or go with a back-end stack, I don't know).

The important part is that way back in the late '90s, when consumer internet was just underway (I was supporting Windows 3.11 at that time!) I used to tell people, "We've all heard the saying, 'You learn something everyday.' Well, in my job, I learn something about every fifteen minutes!" I want that back. I want a career where I can have fun. I want a career where I consistently learn and use what I learn. I want career where I can do things for people that they can't do for themselves. I want a career in which I routinely have people say, "Thank god Martin was here!" I miss that, and I want it back.