Background

I am a Senior Systems Administrator with the Department of Statistics of the NC State University "College of Agriculture and Life Sciences" and NC State University "College of Physical and Mathematical Sciences". My role with the Department of Statistics is basically to keep the all the computing resources operating at optimal performance.

I am a graduate of NC State University, with a Bachelor of Science degree in Computer Science. Over the years I have acquired a few IT certifications (MCSE-NT, CCNA, RHCE-3.0) in an attempt to show employers; my expertise is not isolated to one area.

As of the beginning of 2008, I have 17 years of experience encompassing every IT support area, including desktop and server support and administration, helpdesk, and staff management.

Current Responsibilities

The NCSU Department of Statistics is one of the few departments on campus that runs its own servers independent of Campus or College provided IT services; reasoning ranging from "Quality of Service" to "Local Customizations" to other political/managerial reasons.

The department is currently running the following servers in addition to supporting over 200 personal machines:

I am responsible for superivising an IT assistant that helps me with the department's daily computer operations. He plays an essential role in keeping my work-load balanced and gives me the freedom take some necessary time away from the department.


 

Work History

I got my start working for a company called L&B Computers based out of Knightdale, NC back in 1991. My primary duties back then where to setup small stand-alone Unix/Windows networks for the local municipalities. After 5 years, I got tired of the travel and decided to leave to work for NCSU Statistics Department.

In 1996 I started work for the NCSU Department of Statistics. My primary duties entailed the configuration of SUN Workstations for use of students and faculty. I initiated the department migration to self reliance for IT services. After 4 years, I decided to leave NCSU Statistics Department to work for Cisco Systems.

In 2000 I started work for Cisco Systems as a Lab Systems Administrator. My primary job was to maintain the network and the computing infrastructure for the engineers in a development lab. After about 9 months Cisco had difficulties keeping me "busy". After 1 year, I decided to leave Cisco Systems and return to the NCSU Statistics Department.

In 2001 I returned to my old job with the NCSU Statistics Department. I managed to return the systems back to optimal conditions and restored the quality of service back to level the users appreciated from my previous time with the department.

Over the past 10+ years the NCSU Statistics department has moved from Sun Workstations as their primary computing to Microsoft Windows or RedHat Linux systems. The number students and faculty has continued to grow along with the need for more specialized servers and solutions to meet their ever changing computing needs.

Personal Information

I am married with (2) beautiful daughters. I met my wife while working at the NCSU Statistics Department. She is an ex-graduate student who received a Masters Degree from the Statistics Department.

I am not a North Carolina native; however I have been here since 1984 and have no desire to relocate elsewhere. I have to admit North Carolina was not appreciated upon my arrival many years ago, however over the years I have grown to appreciate NC for the assets it does have.

My family moved frequently during my childhood. I attended (5) different high schools and moved at least once a year from the 6th grade until I started college. This moving exposed me to many types of people and personalities; which has proven beneficial.

I enjoy being helpful and many times perform duties outside of those expected by a typical IT professional.