When I was 11 years old, I learned about computers from a couple of friends who were tech enthusiasts. They taught me how computers worked. That was way back in 1982 when the personal computer was just becoming popular.

I continued my love of technology, simply because I liked breaking things and putting them back together. Sometimes, the latter part didn't happen.... poor vacuum cleaner. Still, I enjoyed understanding how things worked. Computers were especially interesting to me because they allowed the user to do "anything" from creating a document to flying to the moon.

In 2001, I began a full-time career in IT. I learned how to work with telephony networks, installation, moves, adds, and changes. I worked at Pfizer as a Telecom Analyst between 2001-2002. It was at Pfizer that I noticed that sometimes technical people have a tendency to “look down” on those who are uneducated in technology. It created in me a resolve not to be that way. I admit that I sometimes got frustrated with clients that couldn’t grasp all the aspects of technology, but at the same time, I noticed that they would also get upset with the techs because they felt that we did not understand anything about their fields of expertise. In truth, some of the other techs only cared about the equipment aspect of their business and not what the client’s business was trying to accomplish.

In 2002, I was able to take advantage of some training being offered by NYC. I completed a CCNA (Cisco Certified Network Associate) course, a PIX firewall course, which is Cisco appliance firewall training and Checkpoint, which is a software based firewall course. These courses introduced me to the world of computer networking, Networking, in laymen’s terms, is when you bring computers together for a common goal and then communicate through them with the outside world.

At the same time, Internet security was becoming a growing concern, because major viruses were popping up and unscrupulous hacking was taking place. By the end of 2002, I noticed that a huge market was opening up in the field of Network Security. So, after completing the above courses, I took a course in 2004 on Ethical Hacking. This course was very cutting edge for that time period and I learned how easy it was for a computer network’s security to be compromised. I became a Certified Ethical Hacker (CEH). As such, I worked through an agency that assigned me one main project as a consultant. I was to audit the internal network for Johnson and Johnson company.

Between 2002 and 2005, I worked as a technical consultant for IBM and as an installer for Cisco equipment, like routers, switches and firewalls. Routers are appliances that connect internal private networks to the outside Internet world. Switches are appliances that connect computers together to communicate freely with one another inside a private network. Firewalls are basically appliances that monitor communication channels that go to and from the Internet while they evaluate their overall safety. They also decide whether a channel is allowed into the private network or not. In addition to these projects, I installed some wireless equipment for the NYC Public School System and completed some technical assignments for the NYC Board of Education as well as Smith Barney (previously part of Citigroup).

At the end of 2005, I was hired by a NYC government agency as a LAN (Local Access Network) Administrator. This position deals with maintaining the computers, the cabling, the switches, routers and firewalls to ensure that they are in good operational condition. At present, I work as a consultant for this agency.

During this time I have learned some very valuable lessons. First, that a business does not revolve around its computers, but the computers around the business. Technology exists to further the goals of the people. As such, the attention and care should be focused on the people first and then the machines. Second, having a big budget does not guarantee quality. It’s sad to say, but there are many IT departments that offer low quality work and display a shocking lack of interest in the needs of their customers. And, what about the small business owner that does not have an IT staff? How does he keep his network up? These are questions that I hoped to be able to provide an answer to someday.

When you work in this field, it is common to hear horror stories. Stories about IT techs that took advantage of home computer users when they were experiencing technical problems. Some of these people would come and ask me for advice, like which computer to buy, or which router to get, or what software to purchase. In time, they began asking me to come over and help them with technical problems. Most of the time, they would be surprised at how reasonable my pricing was. Then, I would simply explain to them that I was not out to strip them monetarily, especially if the issue was very simple for me to resolve. The next thing I knew, I was getting referrals, lots of them. So, last year I founded my IT firm with a few main goals.

• To provide all my clients quality service
• To focus on the human aspect of the service and not just the technological
• To show patience to those who are technologically challenged, remembering that I too had to be taught and am still learning
• To be open to teach others what I do know about IT

Though some may believe that keeping information a secret secures their jobs, I have found that sharing knowledge builds a foundation of trust that is not easily broken. It creates something stronger than job security…friendship.

It is upon these principles that I am building this company known as Stacked Networks, Inc.