The Journey of An IT Guy

No matter how long it takes for the lesson to come around and reach you in life, I truly believe that everything happens for a reason.

The Year Is 2012

Contrary to the popular prediction of death by the Mayan Calendar, the year 2012 was actually the beginning of the rest of my life. I was in high school at the time and it was around the point when they started telling you “Hey, it’s about time y’all start thinking about what you want to do with your lives so you don’t leave here and become bums!”

In the area I went to school in, there was a special school created for the purpose of raising awareness and informing students about different trades and professions they may be interested in doing as a future career. This school was called the Chesterfield Technical Center, or "The Tech Center” for short. One day the Tech Center came to give a presentation at my high school about all the opportunities available to rising Juniors and Seniors.

Until that day, thanks to the Fast and Furious movies, I was dead set on becoming an auto mechanic as my lifetime career path. But the presentation they gave changed everything. They had a slide show of all the professions and average salaries at the time with a little description of each. Going through the slides I saw many high salary professions but my mind was still set on the mechanic route!

That is, until the auto mechanic slide arrived. Average salary, somewhere in the range of $34,000 - $39,000. Needless to say it was quite a bummer compared to the other high salaries on the presentation. However, IT/Networking was about $40,000 more in salary per year. It wasn’t among the top six figure salaries, but it was enough to peak my interest.

I put in my application and hoped for the best!

2012 - 2014: The Foundation

During the summer of 2012, I found out in the mail that I had been accepted into the IT/Networking program at the tech center. I didn’t know the impact that that letter would have on my life, but I would soon find out. This was the beginning of the foundation to my career being built.

Over the next two years, I would study computer repair and networking multiple days a week. The schedule was one day at my home high school and one day at the tech center then alternating each day for the duration of the year.

During this time I went through the Cisco Networking Academy and learned the in’s and out’s of computer repair. By the end of the first year, I became certified in networking and computer repair, as well as landing my first internship.

The internship would become the second biggest impact to my professional career. I interned, and eventually got hired, a computer repair shop in Richmond called ALB Tech. This is where I got the majority of my hands on computer repair training and knowledge.

Not only that, it turned out to be one of the biggest influences on how I run my new small business in the present day. The Deal Of The Day Discounts idea that I post everyday to my website and Facebook, came from working there. Also the idea of free diagnostics and how appreciative people were not to be charged just for having problems looked at came from there as well.

Small Town Tech is my first official licensed business, but it wasn’t the first business I ever ran.

2014 - 2018: The College Years

When I first started as a freshman in college I was forced to work in the dining hall and I absolutely hated it. I would work about 15 to 20 hours a week for $7.25 an hour. That came out to somewhere between $100 and $250 a month if I remember correctly.

I was telling the owner of ALB Tech, Adam, about this and he recommended just fixing iPhone screens on campus instead for money. We sat down and did the math and he was right. Instead of working for $200 a month at 15 hours a week, I could make the same $200 by fixing 10 phones and only doing about 3.5 hours of work. 3.5 hours with something I loved vs 60 hours doing something I hated was a no brainer.

Thus, my first company, Normality Repairs, was born. I did many of the same things I did now to run my business. I printed business cards to hand out on campus and got a little square card reader because I knew most people didn’t have cash but they all had some form of cards. Even if it was secretly their parents cards and money.

The business did well and I was making about $300 a week as needed and worked whenever I wanted instead of being on a set schedule with the university. However, I had to give it all up in order to obtain my next biggest career move.

My Junior year in college I became a Resident Technology Associate (RTA) for Longwood University. Basically, this was a student worker position that helped other students fix technology issues within their dorm rooms. This was right up my alley and much more fun than the dining hall. Plus by that point I already had three years of computer repair experiences so I was able to move up the ranks pretty quickly amongst the RTAs.

The biggest benefit to this was forming a relationship with Longwood IT, and gaining free room and board as payment from the university, as well as a supplemental paycheck from working at the help desk.

This made it worth giving up the phone repair business because there was no way I’d bring in thousands of dollars and form relationships with the IT staff by fixing phones for $20 a piece.

2018 - 2019: “Taking A Year Off”

Not much happened during this one year period. I did get my first full time job working at a chemical plant in Hopewell, Va. It’s called AdvanSix now but it used to be known as a Honeywell plant. For those who don’t know, Honeywell is a major company in the home appliances space. Many of you may have thermostats, fans, or other little appliances with the Honeywell name on them.

This job did give me a little experience at the enterprise level of IT and computer repair. I was only at this job for about nine months before I left for my next opportunity.

2019 - Present: Back To College We Go

We’ve come pretty much full circle now. In May of 2019, I Started working full time at the university I graduated from and have been there ever since. I’ve held a few positions while here, such as Desktop Support Technician, Apple Technician, and now Network Administrator. This time period is where I have seen the most growth for my professional career.

I’ve met a lot of great people here and learned a lot of different things. Many have come and gone from Longwood. It is definitely not what it used to be. But so far it has given me the most opportunity and if I wasn’t working here, I’m not sure I ever would’ve started my own business.

Conclusion

You can see now why I think everything happens for a reason. Not just in my life but also in the lives of others. If I wasn’t at Longwood I probably wouldn’t have started my business, but also if certain people weren’t at Longwood at the same time I was then I also may not have started my business for that reason.

It’s crazy to think about how little things like that have such an impact on your life. I never would’ve thought, sitting there in that high school auditorium, that paying attention to that presentation and applying for a program would be the thing that allowed me to start a career, find my wife, afford a house and vehicles, and start my own company.

If I stuck with my original plan, my life would’ve been completely different. I probably wouldn’t know any of the people I do now. Would’ve never formed a community on LinkedIn or started a newsletter or a business. Who knows if I would’ve ever left my hometown.

All that to say, life is a journey. Don’t be afraid to take chances even if the outcome isn’t fully clear yet. But also be wise and mindful of your decisions. The smallest change could impact volumes of the way you live your life moving forward.

Have patience and enjoy the journey. You may be in a place or a job that you hate right now, but years down the road you may come to realize that it was all worth it and all for a purpose. Embrace the good and the bad equally. It’s essential to your storyline.