I started working in IT in tech support, in 1999, and I have worked like mad all the way up the food chain to management, always maintaining my technical skills, because let’s face it – technology is fun. I learned so much via the ever popular trial by fire, the 3:00am on call rotation, the server down ALL HANDS ON DECK experiences. I once earned the nickname of routergirl, because I *was* routergirl. I had my CCNA, I was halfway to the CCNP, and I have taken the written for the CCIE. I have made websites in notepad. I learned CSS when it was new. I can sniff traffic, mirror ports, run security scans, triangulate wireless access point locations. I can do just about anything in linux, FreeBSD, Ubuntu and Centos. I’m not afraid of custom open source router firmware, I’ve never bricked a device, and I once restored CatOS on a switch controller via serial cable. If you tell me, “It would make everything better, but it can’t be done,” I will not believe you until I try.

I know and am very passionate about Atlassian software. Jira and Confluence in particular. I can build the servers, migrate to new ones, upgrade, and – bonus: I can train users. I have written documentation on Disaster Recovery, policies for mobile access and VPN access. I have written documentation for CEOs to validate a project plan and for users on how to fix issues with everything from email to SQL queries. I’ve supported Exchange on premise, O365, Oracle, SQL, Sharepoint, Salesforce and SAP.

I have been taking a break from work, now that the kids are grown, and am going to school to finish a degree I started years ago. But I sometimes worry I will enjoy school too much – I am hungry to learn, to learn well, and to not just understand how to do things, but how to do things according to best practice.

I have been an IT Director, an IT Operations Manager, a sales engineer (least favorite). I have been a Sr Systems Engineer (longest held title), a Network Engineer, a Systems Engineer and Administrator. I have restructured entire IT Departments, and I work well with others. I put all of my passion into making the organization where I work better, more efficient, smarter, automated where it can be with the right people where they should be. I have run projects successfully ranging from 2 months to 2 years, with budgets from 10k to 8 million. Over the last 20 years I have remained on close professional and personal terms with someone from every team I managed, worked on, and the managers I reported to are always happy to be references.

Technical expertise AND people skills? Am I a unicorn? Perhaps. Though I think trends are leaning more towards IT people with people skills now – more so than when I started in the industry. I am also an excellent manager, because I love helping people get better at what they do, I love mentoring, I love steering them and sitting in on troubleshooting sessions to say, “Have you checked the logs?” I do not like to micromanage – I trust my teams but verify work is done, and if I don’t trust a team member, I work to change that.

I’ve resolved conflicts on teams arising from lack of respect, cultural differences, bias, favoritism, and age. I’ve received change management training from a cultural aspect. I have also implemented IT Governance, COBIT, ITIL and I had a brief experience with California’s SAM5300.

What I want?

1. To work for an organization making a difference. Public safety, progressive politics, women’s rights, civil rights, child safety, renewable energy. I want to work for someone who believes in integrity, transparency when possible and the understanding that for the company to succeed, the employees must be empowered and allowed to grow.

2.A collaborative environment. Everyone has their own perspective, their own experience to add to the table. Someone can work on an issue for three weeks, getting no closer to an answer, until someone happens to pass by and says, “Oh! Are the interfaces set to half duplex?” Regular interactions and team gatherings can facilitate the sharing of experience and knowledge. I am strongly against silos and quite good at breaking them down.

3. To manage a team. Not a large team, just the right team. If it is not the right team at the start, I can make it so. I am excellent at building teams – getting people engaged, getting them to understand the business vision and how it fits into their widget or script or daily task.

4. Remote work. I understand an initial period where I would be in an office – this is crucial to get a feel for the dynamics, the way people get things done, the accuracy of any formal process or procedures (which are not always reality). But ultimately my dream job is all remote with visits to office locations once a month or so. I am fine with video calls, Skype, and I have never been told I need to be more available. In fact I had a brief brush with burn out at one employer, after which my boss and husband teamed up to force me to stop doing everything. I have learned from that – don’t worry! Which leads me to my next desire.

5. A real work life balance. If a company has no way to prioritize and document work, all work is top priority, and IT employees burn out quickly. I am well versed with Agile methodology, I have led scrums and I love stand up meetings when they’re done effectively. But I also need off time. I have done 36 hour work days. When an emergency happens (several switches failing at once for example), those are understandable. But then I may take a day off to recover. If I take a scheduled vacation, I do not expect to be called for a non emergency, and I provide the same courtesy to my staff.

Think we might be a fit? Get in touch. Resume:  SW_Updated_2018