In the Air Force, my first assignment was as an electrical engineer on our Intercontinental Ballistic Missiles. I was part of an elite team of people who troubleshot problems that the regular technicians or operators could not solve. This environment of working as part of a team to solve urgent, high-visibility problems with nuclear weapons provided me with foundational abilities.

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As part of joining the Air Force unit, I was given an email address and network account. The network administration shop learned that I knew quite a bit about computers. At the end of my first week, I was called into the top commander’s office to solve a computer problem. I solved it quickly and was thereafter branded the highest-ranking tech-savvy person in the unit.

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Within time, my responsibilities grew to include leading the nine-person network administration team responsible for over 700 computers with 1500 users around the clock.

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In 1997, I also had the dubious honor of heading up the newly created Y2K compliance team. My commander knew that as stewards of nuclear weapons, Y2K compliance was critically important, and that our program would be under the closest scrutiny by the highest levels of our government. Through this time I learned much about continuity of operations in the event of technology or electrical failure. While Y2K ended up being a non-event, there are many uses for this type of business planning to include acts of nature or terrorism. Sadly, most American small businesses and organizations are used to nothing going wrong and never prepare for outages in advance.

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In the summer of 2000 I transitioned to civilian life taking a position working in a group of family-owned businesses. I built corporate networks for five geographically separated businesses. By 2001 I was also asked to be the COO of one, a data entry and processing business. We migrated from the reel-to-reel tape mainframe with connected computer terminals, to a Microsoft Active Directory-based network.

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The companies outgrew existing facilities and moved into new facilities. This provided valuable experience in coordinating with vendors to build out new locations and managing the logistics of moving companies while maintaining operations.

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As the point-person for all technological special projects, I was responsible for obtaining the physical security systems, RFID proximity card access control systems and the phone systems. Long before BYOD was conceived as an acronym, I was living the realities of individuals utilizing their own technology in the businesses.

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Throughout my time at the companies, I also helped other organizations and individuals. Active in my church, I helped running sound and video for weekend services. As the church grew, it bought new property and built a new facility. I served on the tech team to spec and design the technologies installed in the new building. During construction, I served as the technical foreman working hand-in-hand with the builder’s foreman as the construction company was used to building traditional churches, not ones with server rooms or a broadcast video production room.

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I never intended to start my own consulting company, but in 2008 my employer’s companies suffered from the economic downturn and it was no longer feasible for them to sustain my employment.