I had been wanting to get back to working for a "dot-com" or Internet company for quite a while, when I stumbled across a job opening at Data Foundry (formerly Texas.net) on Craig's List in early April of 2008. I sent off my resume, answered some basic networking questions a manager sent me, interviewed in late April with my soon-to-be manager and a couple of V.P.'s, and was hired in late April. I had a good feeling about it when the support manager, Jeff, spent quite a bit of time showing me around their facilities and explaining how everything works.

I started my new job on May 12th (I'm still in my 1st week as of this writing, and learning a lot). It's a data center, and the facilities are impressive. I worked with broadband networking at Winstar/Goodnet years ago, but this job will be a little more hands-on, and I love that. It will also make some use of my previous UNIX/Linux admin experience in some capacity too.

The "NOC" (network operations control center) is especially cool, I need to get a photo of it. It's like a miniature versure of the NASA control center in Houston (visit it if you're ever in Houston!), but dark (like geeks like) with some colored lighting and big screens up front giving an overview of everything. Very cool. :)

After taking a short leave to spend the summer with friends in Scottsdale, Arizona from May through August of 2007 I returned to AT&T Mobility back in Consumer Data Support, although no longer in a mentor capacity.

After having only been gone for about four months, and my last position working as a mentor to other CDS reps, the company had me go through the six week training course with other n00bs off the street and others transfering over from Customer Care. Kinda weird. They did have me teach a segment of the course and help out a little though.

Me in Training Class 09/24/2007 | Berto and I 09/17/2007 | AT&T Sign

In November 2004 the merger went through, and AT&T Wireless became a part of Cingular Wireless. Then in December 2004 they decided to keep me and hired me on as a permanent employee. No raise or better hours, just a new company name on my paycheck.

An oportunity to work in the Consumer Data Support department came up in February 2006. I interviewed and got the job, and started two weeks later. It's much more bearable than billing calls in customer service.

In November of 2006 I became a "mentor" and have since been helping other CDS staff with the tougher calls and issues.

CDS Mentor Crew 01/19/2007 (I'm on the right)
Andrew Sustaitia, Jeremy Schoonover, Danny Reyna, Shawn Enge and Me.

September 2004 contract work was slow again so I took a customer service job at AT&T Wireless through a local temp agency. This was never supposed to be a long-term gig, I was hoping the search for a web development job would pan out. It didn't. I soon learned I really don't enjoy talking on the phone to angry yelling people about "why's my bill so high?"

One thing that made this job more bearable was "undertime", a new thing to me. When calls would slow down we could apply to be let go (unpaid) early if we wanted to. Most of us would eagerly watch our email for a message from operations when the calls would slow down. :)

While trying to find a suitable "9 to 5" gig, since the self-employment thing was driving me to bankruptcy, I decided to give Dell Computer a try. I was in a training class for their technical support department from April 19th through April 27th of 2004.

It was mundane and boring, and the drive up to Round Rock sucked. Then once I arrived there was no parking. I decided quickly this was not the job for me and drove back home one morning after failing to find a single open parking spot anywhere near the building I was training in.

I have no idea why people get excited about working for Dell. Low pay, long commute, no parking, and really boring work.. I don't get it.

After GoRacing.com went under I was hired by Hoover's Online, and they moved me out to Austin, Texas. I worked here from April 2000 through September 2002 as a programmer. I learned a lot and enjoyed most of my time here. Some management changes and the CTO killed the morale toward the end, so I left to try self-employment and contract work with my friend's company in Phoenix. This later turned out to be a very poor career decision. Oh well, live and learn..

At Work 11/2000 [jpg/79k], At Work Late 02/04/2001 [jpg/11k]
Programming Staff 06/2001 [jpg/35k]
(top) Susan Booth, Lori Dacio, Ken Arnold
(bottom) Me, Chris, Dave, Lynn Li, Kristi Nowack, Rick Navarro, Shane Faulkner
Drinking Beer at Work 02/04/2001 [avi/10,654k]

When GetNet went bankrupt and I returned home from my semi-annual New Years trip to hang out in New York City with my cousin Chris (R.I.P., 04/2004) in January 1998 I needed a job. So I took a tech support position at Inficad Computing & Design, LLC.

This was one of those jobs you take to pay the rent while you keep looking. I worked here about 3 months until my old buddy Aaron got me a Network Technician job at Winstar/Goodnet.