ABOUT ME
Until resigning in 2015, I had a successful career as an Information Technology / Help Desk Professional at Thomas Jefferson University Hospital in Philadelphia, PA providing hardware, software and network support to over 5,000 end users.
My role as System Network Operator consisted of Tier 1 network monitoring, making sure all systems were up and functioning, and immediately providing the appropriate Tier 1 response to alerts or incidents. The role also consisted of providing Tier 1 help desk support to the entire Jefferson community - faculty, employees, and students.
I started my career at Jefferson Hospital as a Telephone Operator. I went to trade school for Computer System Technology, graduated with honors and transferred to the position of System Network Operator. In the beginning, the role was mainly mainframe - CA7 scheduling, monitoring the HP NonStop system using NetBatch, tape library management and monitoring Data Center environmentals and security. At the time, the Help Desk and Operations were separate disciplines within the IS department. Technology is always evolving and it felt like I had a new job every few years. Old technologies and duties went away and new ones were adopted and implemented. This staved off boredom. That’s the great thing about IT, it’s constantly changing, and you’re constantly learning.
Due to changes and improvements in technology, the Data Center was revamped and Operations and the Help Desk merged. All team members cross-trained and learned to work together.
I am a life student, continuously learning something new, evolving my skill set and developing as a person.
While working full-time, I attended Rutgers’s University part-time, completing a communications degree I had started years earlier. Because I had transferable credits toward the communications degree, it was more feasible to continue the degree I had started, rather than starting a new degree in Information Technology. Going back to school forced me to learn and implement S.M.A.R.T Goals, develop processes for better time management and sharpen my problem solving skills.
I had to become successful at managing my career in an ever changing work environment, and my school obligations, because failing at either was not an option. I graduated in 2012 with my B.A. in Graphic Design. From the skills I mentioned above to working on many projects and working on teams of diverse individuals, I could write a book about how going back to school has helped me in the work place.
Upon graduating, it was time to put the wheels in motion toward my next goal, moving to Florida. I had arrived at this goal while on vacation in Aruba. I realized I needed to live in a climate that was warm year round and I needed to see palm trees…lol. When I was in an environment with palm trees, it always felt like home and I knew moving was a goal that I had to make happen sooner rather than later so I implemented S.M.A.R.T Goals and began the journey.
I will be blogging about my journey and the lessons learned real soon.
What's Next
It was not easy leaving a good career at a great company, with great people, and it was even harder to move away from family, but when you’re goal oriented like myself, you press on knowing that the finish line for one thing means the start of something new and I am ready to discover what good and new things are in store for me.