If you read my first post, you know that I am currently a student at Kutztown University. I have been fortunate in that my schedule has allowed me to take a full course load while still working two full days a week.
My Professional Life
First, I need to start with the legal stuff. Please read my disclaimer, to which a link can be found at the bottom of this blog in the footer. To summarize for purposes of this post, anything I write here are my own views and opinions and do not reflect the views and opinions of my employer. Again, click the link to read my whole disclaimer. It's sad—the state of this world, that we can't even do anything without having to cover our butts—but I digress.
Now that that’s out of the way, let’s get started. I work for a small manufacturer of temperature sensors used for industrial process control. The company was founded in 1985 and produces thermocouples and Resistor Temperature Devices (RTDs). Perhaps in another post I’ll explain all about thermocouples and RTDs and how they work.
Suffice it to say, the company was started well before the Internet that we know today became popular, even before computer networking became what it is today. Computers were at use since the very beginning. But, throughout the early and mid-1990’s, the computing infrastructure grew and eventually became networked.
In 1994, Microsoft® Windows NT 4.0 was released, and this is the network operating system still in use today. As you might have guessed, my company has no need to be on the bleeding edge of technology. Having said that, this network is quite old and no longer suits our purposes. That’s where I come in.
My Role
Since my company is a small company, I wear many hats, and not all of them have to deal with IT. I’ve served in the following roles at one time or another (sometimes all at the same time) over the last 5 years:
- Inventory Control
- Shipping/Receiving
- Production Manager
- Purchasing
- Information Technology
So I’ve been quite busy. These days, however, my focus has been squarely on IT.
I am basically the CTO and/or CIO, but I settle for the title IT Manager. I am responsible for anything that has something to do with computers. That means that I maintain the website (I did not create it, but I maintain it since I don’t have time to redesign it—which it sorely needs.), maintain the network, and write software when it is needed. I am also the in-house desktop publisher. So as you can see, I have a lot on my plate.
Looking Ahead…
So looking ahead, I will be writing about exactly what’s going on with our network infrastructure. I will be making periodic posts on my progress. I won’t only blog about work, however, but until at least June or July, expect a lot of my posts to center around that. Besides, I will have some valuable information to share with others—I promise. So for the sake of trying to keep these posts somewhat short, I’ll be ending this one. The next one will give more information on the network re-engineering effort. Until then, so long.
