How I prostitute my mind...

Times, they are a changing. My latest venture is a Professional Services Company called Striker IT. It's a consulting company that allows me to offer my services directly to businesses that may require them. That's only part time, however. My full time job is now as a network security software engineer for Getronics. I work for their Red Siren division, primarily developing software that process and normalise firewall and IDS data.

Previously I worked for AT&T Global Network Services. I worked in a small group called IP Network Services. My job involved alot of networking, alot of UNIX and some programming. Right up my alley, wouldn't you say?

I used to work for TEAM Technologies, one of the major network integration/solutions providers in Eastern Iowa. We worked with several fortune 500 companies in the area, providing consultation and design solutions to meet their business networking needs. I concentrated on designing virtual private network (VPN) solutions as well as designing outsourced security solutions for our clients, and growing/maintaining our own network infrastructure.

I also used to work at Sprint Canada's national data communications center in Vancouver, BC. Basically, I was a member of a small team whose job it was to run Sprint-Canada's Internet backbone, and its connections to its clients. This involved a bunch of things ranging from BGP routing issues, to network design, involving things like T1's, T3's, frame-relay, ATM and a whole bunch of really nerdy stuff I won't try to bore you with. Essentially, it was my job to connect businesses the way they want to be connected. Sometimes they wanted to connect privately to various offices, and sometimes they wanted their staff to have Internet access. My job was to make sure that happened in the most efficient way possible, never losing sight of the big buzz words: scalability and reliability .

I've been in the data communications field for a while (relatively speaking). I started out as a UNIX system administrator at a very small Internet Service Provider called "Odyssee Internet". It grew and was eventually bought out by Microtec and is now called "Internet Microtec". They got bought out by QuebecTel, then became Globetrotter Internet, and then got bought out by Telus. Wow. :)

After Microtec, I started designing internetworks for a company called "e>Connect Canada". We had a continental ATM (Asynchronous transfer mode) backbone onto which we plugged several large companies and ISPs. I had a great time there and the experience payed off. e>Connect's business, however, did not; they went belly-up. Metronet Communications picked up the pieces. I left. Metronet became AT&T Canada. Isn't it amazing how things work out? :)

The people who don't know too much about the gory details of network and systems management often ask me "Umm.. what exactly do you do?". Every network/systems manager groans at the prospect of answering that question because there is no one answer. But I've come up with what i think is the closest thing:

"Scotty!! I NEED MORE POWER!!"
"Uh Cawnt mek hur goo any fusterr Kaptun! She's goonta bloo!!"
"I don't care! MOOOOOOOOOOOORRRE POWER!!!!!!!"
"She wasn't meant tew tek that kind of abuuuse Kaptun! It'll tek me ot leest tew weeks ta fix 'errr!!"
"NOT good enough! I need it tomorrow, and I am not giving you any money or resources to pull it off!!"
"Aye Kaptun.. O'll dew whuh uh cawn.."